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SORRY I TOOK SO LONG, BUT HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER!!
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CHAPTER 33: Please read and comment.
"Hi, Sophie. It's Jimmy," Wilson said to his sister on the other end.
"Hey big bro," Sophie said. "What's up?"
Wilson took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"…I need to talk to you..." Wilson began carefully.
"Is everything all right?" Sophie asked, starting to become concerned.
"Has… Chase spoken to you about his ankle lately?" Wilson asked her tentatively.
"You mean about the fact that he's not using the cane anymore? I told him not to rush it—" Sophie began.
"Did he tell you why he's not using his cane?" Wilson interrupted.
Sophie paused for a moment, slightly confused.
"…He said he was feeling better," Sophie told him.
Wilson exhaled audibly. Seated at his desk in his office, he rubbed the back of his neck in aggravation, wondering exactly how he was going to tell his sister that her boyfriend was a Vicodin addict and was keeping it from her.
"Jimmy, what's going on?" Sophie asked him, nervously.
But before Wilson could answer her, House suddenly barged into Wilson's office, causing Wilson to jump out of his seat, completely startled.
Without saying a word, and at a surprisingly fast pace, House went right over to the phone jack and ripped Wilson's office phone right out of the wall.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Wilson demanded in utter shock. "I was on the phone with Sophie!"
"Which is why I hung up," House replied, as if that explained everything.
"You didn't hang up! You ripped the phone out of my wall!" Wilson exclaimed.
"This way, when she tries to call you back on your office number, it'll probably take her a few minutes before she realizes to call you on your cell so I can convince you to keep your MOUTH shut!" House shot back.
"She needs to know what Chase is doing to himself," Wilson stated firmly.
"You have NO RIGHT to tell her anything," House said angrily.
"She's my SISTER!" Wilson argued.
"And he's my patient," House replied firmly, trying not to lose control.
"Oh please! You don't give a CRAP about Chase! You just want—" Wilson spat out in disgust.
And at that moment, Wilson stopped in mid sentence, his mouth opening slightly.
Because during Wilson's short, angry tirade, House darted his eyes away from Wilson's piercing, irate stare.
"… Wait a minute," Wilson began.
"You… CARE about Chase?" Wilson asked.
House snorted and rolled his eyes.
"The very THOUGHT of that is making me almost too nauseous to steal that muffin off your desk," he scoffed.
House then promptly took the apple cinnamon muffin off of Wilson's desk that he had bought in the cafeteria that morning and took a bite out of it.
"Almost," House added perfunctorily, his mouth full of the muffin.
But Wilson was too stunned to care.
"You're not making sure that you'll always have a surgeon in your hip pocket. You're… PROTECTING him," Wilson stated in epiphany.
"You got any milk?" House asked, in a lame attempt to deflect as he chewed.
"You did the MRI in the middle of the night so Cuddy wouldn't find out… you told him to fill the script out the hospital…" Wilson continued.
"And now… you're not letting me tell Sophie about his addiction because you respecting his confidentiality?!" Wilson uttered in disbelief.
"I'm not letting you tell Sophie because she'll be so devastated that he hid this from her that she'll dump his sorry a$$ and then he'll be too miserable to be of any use to me," House explained pedantically.
"And how is he of any use to you if he's too high to operate?" Wilson asked.
"HE'S NOT HIGH!!" House yelled suddenly, causing Wilson to flinch at his outburst.
"The pills help him function! They help him do his job! They make it possible for him to get out of bed everyday and live his life and be happy with your sister, you idiot!" House declared, gesticulating his arms as he spoke.
"…You're actually concerned about the quality of his life," Wilson said.
And then, suddenly it dawned on him.
"What's going on with your leg?" Wilson asked him softly.
House exhaled and pursed his lips together, looking down at the ground, leaning heavily on his cane, not replying.
"I thought you were feeling less pain," Wilson said.
"Yeah. So did I," House said, matter-of-factly.
Just then, Wilson's cell phone rang in his pocket. Wilson took it out and glanced at the caller ID.
"That's Sophie," Wilson stated.
"Are you gonna tell her?" House asked him.
Wilson locked eyes with House, letting the phone ring once more.
He then opened it.
"Hey, So," Wilson said apologetically.
"What happened? I've been trying to call you back for the last five minutes!" Sophie asked.
Wilson closed his eyes. "…Yeah… I've been having problems with my office phone all day," he lied, avoiding House's stare.
"What did you have to tell me about Robbie?" Sophie asked, the anxiety rising in her voice.
Wilson opened his eyes. House was still staring at him.
"…Just… that he should really still be using the cane. Especially if he's standing in the OR all day. I tried to talk to him about it, but he shrugged me off," Wilson lied again, his shoulders slumping.
Sophie sighed in great relief.
"I'll talk to him," she said with a slight chuckle. "You really worried me," she added.
"I'm sorry," Wilson said.
"That was really sweet of you to try to talk to him about it," Sophie said.
Wilson smiled half- heartedly on the other end, saying nothing as the guilt churned inside him.
"So are you excited for this weekend?" Sophie asked him brightly.
"Yeah, I'm really excited for you to take all my money off me at the tables," Wilson drawled sarcastically.
"It's your birthday. I'll go easy on you," Sophie told him.
Wilson chuckled. "I'll see you Saturday," he told her.
"Ok. Bye," Sophie replied, hanging up.
Wilson hung up as well, and stared at House, who was smiling the tiniest smile.
"I'm going to hell," Wilson muttered, putting his head in his hands.
"I'll save you a seat," House replied before leaving Wilson's office.
As House closed the door behind him, a melancholy smile appeared on Wilson's face.
Because while he was sad that House's pain had increased, he was at least happy that House had finally found someone who had some idea of what he was going through.
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FRIDAY NIGHT...
The next evening, a little after 9 pm, Sophie was in one of the locker rooms at Boston University Teaching Hospital, taking her backpack full of textbooks and coat out of her locker.
She had been at the hospital since six that morning, busy with classes, rounds and studying.
And she was exhausted.
She slipped on her coat, closed her locker shut, slung her cumbersome backpack over her right shoulder, and left the locker room, thinking about how she couldn't wait to just relax in a warm, decadent bubble bath and put off packing for her trip to Mohegan Sun until the morning.
And then she stopped in mid stride, her breath catching in her throat.
Because Chase was leaning against the opposite wall just outside the locker room, wearing a pair of dark jeans, a graphic t- shirt, his leather jacket and an incredibly beautiful smile on his face. His eyes were sparkling as he gazed at her.
"…Hi!" Sophie managed to say.
"Hey beautiful," Chase said softly, pushing himself off the wall and walking towards her.
Sophie felt a wonderfully warm sensation swim through her. By now, they had been together for over four months, but he still gave her butterflies in her stomach every time she saw him.
"What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the casino tomorrow," Sophie reminded him.
Chase shrugged, took her backpack off her shoulder, slipped it over his own and pulled her closer to him.
"I changed my mind," he said simply.
Sophie bit her lower lip and smiled.
"I'm glad," she told him.
Chase traced her entire face with his eyes, amazed at how pretty she looked after what he knew was a long day at the hospital. A few locks of hair had fallen out of her loose ponytail, framing her face, and she was only wearing a bit of eye makeup.
He engulfed her lips in a long, lingering kiss. He could feel the tension leave her body from the day as he kissed her.
He then pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes.
"Can I take you home?" he asked her softly.
Sophie nodded, her eyes closing as well, the butterflies still flitting around in her stomach.
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Around twenty minutes later, Chase and Sophie had returned to her apartment.
As soon as they got through the front door, Chase had pulled her over to her couch, took her coat off of her and positioned her onto his lap so she was straddling him, her toned, shapely legs on either side of him.
Sophie lolled her head back, closing her eyes happily as he explored her neck with his lips and tongue languidly, holding her close to him.
"God, I missed you," Chase murmured into her neck as his hands slipped underneath the heather grey long- sleeved t- shirt she was wearing. He gently fondled her breast over her bra, making her gasp softly at his touch.
"You like that?" Chase asked huskily against her skin, thickening his accent slightly, knowing she absolutely loved it when he did that.
"Yes," Sophie whispered back, feeling a delightful tingle between her legs at the sound of his voice.
He then pulled her long- sleeved t- shirt up over her head, revealing her plain, pale- pink cotton bra.
Now, only clad in her bra and jeans, Sophie pulled her body shyly away from Chase, surprising him. He gazed into her eyes.
"What?" Chase asked her, not understanding her sudden shyness.
"I…didn't know you were coming," she replied, almost apologetically. "If I did, I would have worn something nicer for you."
"You don't have to dress up for me," Chase told her tenderly, shaking his head slightly.
"I like to," she said, barely above a whisper, shrugging her shoulder.
Chase felt a surge of arousal in his cock at her demureness.
He then slipped his fingertips underneath her left bra strap, pulling it down just enough to expose the top curve of her breast and her rose- pink nipple.
He lowered his head down and brushed his soft, full lips against her nipple, the tip of his tongue caressing it delicately, causing her to gasp once more.
"But I know you like cotton," Chase said, his lips lightly touching her breast.
His simple answer made her heart do flip- flops.
As Chase continued his lovely ministrations, she moaned softly, threading her fingers through his hair, encouraging him on, smiling lovingly at him.
"I have a surprise for you, too," she breathed.
Chase looked up at her with curiosity, placing his hands on her hips. She pulled her bra back over her breast, leaned over and grabbed her backpack off the couch.
"I was gonna wait until tomorrow to show this to you…" she began as she opened her backpack.
"But since you gave me such a nice surprise…" she continued, pulling out a letter- sized manila envelope out of her bag and handed it to him.
Chase arched his eyebrow, took the envelope from her and opened it.
As he opened it, Chase's mouth gaped open in complete surprise as he saw what was inside it:
"STUDENT TRANSFER APPLICATION FORM
PRINCETON PLAINSBORO TEACHING HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL"
Sophie grinned broadly as Chase's entire face erupted into the happiest smile she had ever seen on him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he continued to stare at the transfer application in front of him.
"I'm going to finish this semester here. And the admissions counselor said I can redo my peds rounds this summer at PPTH so I don't have to wait for the following fall," Sophie explained as she caressed the scruff on his cheek.
Chase took his eyes off the application and stared at her.
"You have to redo your rounds?" Chase asked her in surprise.
"Princeton wouldn't accept the credit," Sophie said off- handedly. "But that's ok. I don't mind," she added.
"Are you sure?" Chase asked, touching her face.
"I'm positive," Sophie replied, nodding firmly.
Chase's heart swelled with love as he tossed the application onto the couch next to them and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
"Let me take you to bed," Chase said against her lips.
"Actually… I was planning on taking a bath before I knew you were coming," Sophie said sexily.
Chase, knowing that he had taken his last two Vicodin about twenty minutes before he had arrived at Boston University hospital, calculated that he had almost six more hours before he had to take two more.
Once he realized that, he immediately pushed her off his lap, stood up off the couch, and scooped her up into his arms. Sophie shrieked in surprise and delight.
"Works for me," Chase said with a grin before carrying her to her bathroom.
TBC…