The stage was bare but for one podium, one table, and four chairs. The table was simply covered with a white tablecloth and there were four microphones evenly spaced out along
the length of the table. The auditorium was packed for the event of the year. A panel made up of the top four diagnosticians in the country. Dr. Gregory House, the oldest of the
bunch at 47, a misanthrope with a cane and a mouth to back it up. Dr. Alice Barrington, a brilliant redhead, the youngest of the panelists at 25, she went to med school at the age of
19. Dr. Caitlin Brown, a rather ordinary looking woman who had a personality that outshone her plain appearance. Finally, Dr. Chelsea Thomas an oncologist on top of being a
diagnostician, the top of the list, she was even better then Dr. House and he never fully forgave her for being the one who knocked him down to 2nd in their class at med school. Dr.
Lisa Cuddy was the moderator of the panel, she had been chosen simply because she was able to somewhat control the way Dr. House acted.
The panel began with the panelists each presenting on a certain case that had been particularly hard for them to solve. Dr. House talked about a young boy who fainted during his
calculus exam, and almost died three times before it was discovered that he had pesticide poisoning. Dr. Thomas presented a very strange case of a woman who came in with a slight
pain in her arm but soon went into multi-system organ failure; Dr. Thomas was able to discern that it was a rare form of bone cancer. Sadly the woman died before proper treatment
could be started. Dr. Brown, on the other hand discussed a case of something simple, a rare form of the flu that caused an epidemic in her small home town. Dr. Barrington had the
most interesting case of all of them, a man came in with pneumonia, but the antibiotics only made him back, it turned out he had bacterial and fungal pneumonia at the same time, the
fungus went crazy when the antibiotics were administered.
The discussion then turned to their various methods of diagnosis. Dr. House is of course famous for his quite unorthodox methods of exhausting every idea before finally coming to
the right one and for also never examining patients. Dr. Thomas is unorthodox also but she's not quite as bad as House. She prefers to actually examine patients before even
beginning to diagnose a patient. Once she has seen the patient, then she feels she can make a more informed diagnosis. Dr. Barrington uses only her own ideas, she refuses to let
anyone else help her. Dr. Brown's methods are the strangest though, she uses the internet to exhaust all ideas she comes up with, and she rarely uses consults and is highly admired
for being able to diagnose any kind of ailment without help.
Finally it was question and answer time and many of the young students had questions for the doctors. In the back row a pair of blue eyes and a shock of blond hair raised a hand.
Dr. Cuddy acknowledged the hand and a heavily accented voice caused Drs. House and Cuddy to look up sharply.
"My question is for all the panelists, I am going to list some symptoms and I would like a differential diagnosis from you. Ok, so nausea, tremors, insomnia, fever, severe distraction,
severe depression, and I think that's it."
Dr. Thomas leaned in and motioned all the other doctors to do the same thing. Dr. House however was more occupied with trying to get a glimpse of the person's face but was
thus far unsuccessful. He soon noticed the hushed conference the women were having and he quickly leaned in to hear what they were saying. After they were done conferring, Dr.
Thomas gave the consensus. It was severe withdrawal/detox and the only thing that could be done was to make the patient as comfortable as possible and control their pain with a
medication that would not interfere with the one they might be detoxing from. Dr. Cuddy then drew the discussion to a close and the students dispersed.
House sat on his bed and waited for the inevitable knock. When it came, he glanced at his watch and thought that it had taken a little longer then he predicted. He opened the door
and the blond Australian from the back row of the panel walked in with his hands in his trouser pockets. All of a sudden Chase found himself pushed against the door, the wood a
cool contrast to the heat coming from the body pressed against him. A pair of soft lips surrounded by rough stubble were all he could think about. Well that and the hands that were
everywhere at once. He slowly pushed the older man away and drug House to the large bed. Then they took their time slowly undressing each other and savoring each inch of newly
revealed skin.
House sat on the bed and pulled Chase down with him. The younger man climbed on top of House but House stopped him as he leaned down for a kiss.
"So, you missed me so much that you flew all the way to L.A. to present yourself as a panel topic?"
Chase just smiled in response and kissed House before he could say anything else. House tried to start talking again but Chase soon rendered him speechless with his very talented
mouth that was doing incredible things to various parts of House's anatomy. They lay together after, Chase's head on House's chest while House trailed long piano fingers through
Chase's hair. Chase's own fingers traced lazy circles on House's chest. Sea-green eyes connected with ice blue ones and though the words were never uttered both knew what the
other wanted so desperately to say but years of avoiding it had taken its toll and all that could be hoped for was looks and touches that were never quite enough. Both were too
scared of being hurt to ever utter the three words that would really make this a real relationship. Fear, the force that drives us all.