Chapter Two: Flight Plan
Emma rested her head on Chase's shoulder as they watched the movie on their flight to the United States. Fighting a yawn, she pulled the blanket that was falling off her lap back onto her as the kid behind them once again kicked the seat. Hiding a smile as she watched Chase grip the arm rest, Emma rubbed the inside of his knee.
"It's only five more hours. What could we use to put the kid asleep?" Emma whispered conspiring with Chase.
"Don't remind me. I wonder if you flash him will he stop. Can you do that?"
Emma couldn't stop the giggle that escaped as the kid kicked her seat.
"It's not even my kid and I want to kill him." Chase mumbled resting his head on the seat rest and closing his eyes.
"This is an adventure, Robert. There are going to be things about this that we won't enjoy. Kid kicking the seat falls into that category and it sucks. This is all for the greater good." Emma said, baiting him.
Chase cracked an eye open and smiled, "This job had better be worth flying all these miles and the kid kicking my seat. Besides, what would I do without your sunny optimism?"
Emma rolled her eyes, "I'm sure that Doctor House will hire you. You are an excellent doctor. No matter what you think, I think that you'll get the job."
"You're sweet, but I don't think that even you can sweet talk Doctor House into giving me a job if he doesn't want to. From what I've heard about him he's an ass, but brilliant."
She just kissed his cheek, "I think you will and if you won't hope then I'll hope for you. That's my job. I've been doing that for you since you were seven and I'll keep doing it till you're seventy."
Chase didn't say anything, but hugged Emma closer to his side and rubbed his hand up and down her arm while watching the remainder of the movie.
Doctor Gregory House sat in his office waiting for his three o'clock interview to show up. Granted it was only two-fifty but still, House was unusually nervous. When he'd looked at Robert Chase's application he'd been somewhat impressed, but what turned up in the slightly illegal background check he'd done had surprised him.
Emma Aslin was Robert Chase's wife.
His Emma, the little girl he'd given up all those years ago, was married. She'd gotten married at eighteen too. Were all teenagers idiots? If she'd still been with him and had gotten married at eighteen he'd have kicked her ass, but then again, she wasn't his daughter. House had never told anyone about Emma. Not even Cuddy or Wilson knew about his biological daughter. The irony of it was that he was meeting his son-in-law and the man would never know it. House had no intention of bringing up the connection of Emma with Chase. This was all for business. Popping in another pill, House glanced at the clock. Not even a minute had passed. A tall man dressed in a suit and tie walked towards his office and House assumed that the man was Robert Chase. It was confirmed as Chase walked through the glass door of the office. House stood and shook hands with Chase.
"It's nice to meet you Doctor House. I'm Robert Chase."
Taking the moment, House sized up Robert Chase. "Interesting, I've got a Brit."
Chase looked annoyed for a split second before covering it up, "I'm Australian, actually."
"Cool."
House continued to look at the man. He'd admit to himself privately that the man was good looking. He could easily see why Emma would be attracted to Chase. He let the clock tick by for five minutes saying nothing, just staring at Chase who was starting to look uncomfortable. Man he'd love to kick the guy's ass just for touching Emma.
"Are we going to have-"
"If I hire you can I nickname you wombat?" House asked sarcastically. "If you don't like that I can find about a billion other Aussie references that I can call you. All mean and degrading."
Chase paused and looked confused, "You want to hire me under the condition I let you call me wombat?"
"Yep, you're hired. See you Monday at nine am."
Chase walked through the door to the apartment he and Emma had rented for the next month with a confused expression. He found Emma in the bedroom unpacking a suitcase full of clothing and humming a child's tune. Leaning against the doorway, he watched her for a minute before speaking.
"You were right."
Emma looked up at him with a smile and clapped her hands together, "You got the job?"
Chase nodded as Emma threw herself to Chase and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him. Chase moaned as he backed up towards the bed and shoved the suitcase off the bed. They both fell to the covers and Emma moaned as Chase's hands traveled up her sides to her breasts. At the same time, Chase's lip descended down her neck as he tugged at her shirt trying to free her.
"You're not going to tell me what happened?" Emma moaned as Chase managed to pull her shirt off.
"I'm a little busy at the moment." Chase mumbled, unhooking the back of Emma's bra.
She grabbed the front of the bra as Chase attempted to yank it off. Chase groaned at her, but stopped. Panting, he closed his eyes as Emma smirked back up at him.
"Tell me before you forget," she breathed.
Chase paused and stared at Emma before quickly moving and unbuttoning her jeans and trying to yank them down. Emma stopped him by crossing her ankles.
"You're not playing fair," Chase moaned, resting his head on Emma's sternum. Running her fingers through his hair, Emma giggled and uncrossed her legs.
"You're so easy to tease."
Chase didn't reply, but quickly took off her bra and pushed her jeans down. All thoughts of House and his new job were quickly pushed out of his mind.
House and Chase walked down the hall of the hospital towards the clinic.
"I need you to do my clinic hours." House said, stopping in front of the clinic doors.
"Okay." Chase asked.
"My soap comes on in ten minutes, don't interrupt me for the next few hours, they're having a marathon. Have fun, Wombat." House said, limping away.
Chase just ignored the name and walked into the clinic.
"Doctor Chase. How are you this morning?" Doctor Cuddy said standing at the nurse's station.
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"Fine. I'll see you later," Cuddy said entering her office.
"Doctor Chase," the nurse said, handing him a file. "Exam room one."
Emma was running in a park close to sunset. The warm September air blew in her face as she put one foot in front of another. Exhaling, Emma used the back of her hand and wiped the sweat that was on her forehead and continued to run.
"Nice shoes."
Emma turned and saw a dark haired woman running next to her.
"Thank you. I'm Emma."
"Lisa," Cuddy said as she jogged next to Emma. "You're Australian?"
"Yeah, I just moved here, my husband got a job at a hospital."
Cuddy almost stopped running, "You're Robert Chase's wife?"
Emma stopped running, "You know, Robert?"
Cuddy laughed, "I'm Lisa Cuddy. The Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, I just met Robert today."
"It seems we do have something in common."
Emma and Lisa started running again and began talking. They found out that they had a lot in common. Both enjoyed tennis, fashion, they both like tofu in Chinese food. When Emma told Cuddy that she was a lawyer, Cuddy almost jumped for joy. She explained that they needed a new defense lawyer at the hospital and asked Emma if she wanted an interview. They talked more and quickly swapped numbers in their cars. Laughing, Emma got into her car with an agreement to meet Cuddy at seven the next night for a run again. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.
Standing at the sink, Emma washed the pan and heard the front door open and slam shut as Chase appeared in the kitchen.
"Ah! The husband is home," Emma said giving Chase a kiss on the cheek as he poured himself a glass of milk. "How was work?"
Chase took a gulp and looked out the window over the sink, "I got stuck doing House's clinic duty."
"It couldn't be that bad." Emma said, "Was it just like your old rounds?"
"Yeah, but everyone who came in there was either looking for drugs or freaking about some sort of medical condition that they thought they had and read about on the internet." Chase said, finishing the rest of the glass and placing it in the sink with the other dishes. "I'm going to go shower."
Emma smiled and watched him take his blue tie off and walk down the hall, "I met your boss today."
Right on cue Chase stopped dead in his tracks.
"What?" he said, turning around and walking slowly back into the tiny kitchen with his hands in his pockets.
"I met your boss and she offered me a job as a lawyer." Emma said, sending Chase a lazy smile over her shoulder.
"Really?" he said, "What did you say?"
"That I'd think about and talk to you," Emma said as Chase moved to stand behind her and held her hips.
"Really?" he said again, placing his lips on the back of her head.
"Stop it with the 'really'. You know that I'm just that good at getting a job." Emma said finishing the last pan and putting it in the drying rack.
"I knew that it was your ass that got that job back in Melbourne as a waitress. Plus your ass got all those tips too." Chase murmured against the shell of her ear, his hands slowly moving over her hips down to cup her bottom.
Emma turned around and looked at Chase, "Would you be alright with working at the same hospital as you? Seriously, Robert, please try and focus on something other than my ass."
Chase stopped trying to kiss Emma and let go of her to grasp the counter with her still imprisoned between his arms. Signing, Chase looked Emma in the eye.
"I wouldn't mind you working at the hospital. In fact, I think it's a great idea. Granted, we'd probably have to set up rules for work. " Chase said, raising his left hand up for Emma to high five.
Emma rolled her eyes and high fived Chase back, "Yes, of course."
Chase chuckled at her sarcasm, "I'm going to go get a shower. Anything on TV to watch this evening for a movie date?"
"I have no idea. Why don't you try taking me on a real date? You know, dinner and a movie where you pay and I get whatever I want," Emma called back as Chase disappeared down the hall.
He raised his hand in acknowledgement of her statement and turned into the bathroom. Laughing to herself, Emma turned on the television and started channel surfing to wait for Chase to finish his shower.
