-Ch 3-
House slammed the chart he was holding down on the desk and grabbed another one, nearly snarling.
Cuddy stormed up to him before he could yell for the patient and dragged him to the side. "House! While I'm happy that for once you're doing your job, you have to do it without making the patients cry! You're going to break your record of complaints, in a single day if you keep this up!"
House glared at her. "Oh make up your mind! Do you want me doing clinic hours or do you want me holding the whiny little babies' hands and pretending to care about their feelings?"
Cuddy glared right back at him. "Both! Since that is your job! I know that's hard to believe but I want you to actually do the job I pay you to do!"
"My job is to diagnose and treat weird, freaky cases that morons like them," He waved a hand in the direction of the other doctors working in the clinic. "can't figure out, let alone cure! Not to listen to idiots whine about their runny noses!"
Cuddy was strapping her bitch on and getting ready to rip into House when she paused and frowned. "Wait a minute. What are you even doing here? You left to go tell Chase he can't duck out of his physicals anymore. You're free until Wednesday."
"I just couldn't stay away." He gritted his teeth into a parody of a smile.
Cuddy merely rolled her eyes and House's demeanor darkened even further. "I did. Ungrateful, nasty little bitch. I'm done with coddling and hand holding him!"
Cuddy's eyebrow skyrocketed. "Something happened I presume?"
"Something happened I presume?" House mocked making a face. "Yes something happened. I went over there, fought with him, the little ingrate got nasty then hid in his room."
"Well, what did you do then?"
"I left."
"You left!" Cuddy asked, unbelievingly.
"He insulted me!" House defended himself.
Cuddy sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose before glaring at House again. "Well this can't go on. You told him he can't come back to work till he's been examined right?"
"Yes I told him!" House snarled.
"Stop taking your pissyness out on me and the patients! If Chase won't comply willingly just drug him and bring him in. It won't be the first time you've done it." Cuddy said with a pointed look. "We'll get him checked out and this whole thing will be over...till next year. It's like having a cat. You can either chase it around the entire house and get shredded to ribbons, or you just put some sleeping pills in their food."
House gave her an outraged look. "Have you ever even had a cat! You can't just drug him! He'd never trust us again!"
Cuddy gave him a disbelieving look. "Well then fine. You go back over there and talk him into it. One way or the other he needs to be examined. It's not healthy to go this long between exams, as he well knows!"
"...can never be considered a long time?"
"What?"
"Apparently Chase has never had a physical. He's always flirted his way out of exams. Or examined him self so he claims." House said the last part with an eye roll.
Cuddy stared then shook her head. "How does someone make it nearly 30 years without ever having a physical! He can not have flirted his way out of that many exams!"
"Somehow he has."
"House, do something. Either get him examined or I'll take matters into my own hands and have him knocked out and checked out!" Cuddy ordered before turning and stalked off to grab a chart and start doing her own clinic hours.
House made a face at her retreating back.
"I saw that!" She called back, without turning around. "And if you're staying, you have a runny nose in exam room two."
"Figures". House muttered, patting down his pockets for his vicodin bottle.
--
Chase slowly opened the door and prepared to be yelled at, maybe some cane slamming into things, oh hell make that a lot of yelling and slamming. He blinked at the fact that there was no House outside his bedroom.
He edged out slowly, looking around as if expecting House to leap, yelling, out from behind something, wielding his can like an axe.
He was confused as he found no sign of House anywhere in his apartment.
House was gone. Chase cringed feeling wracked with guilt over what he'd said. House never would have left unless he was really upset.
Chase collapsed down onto his couch with a deep sigh. "God. I screw everything up don't I?" He ignored the ecstatic little voice in his head that reminded him he had gotten out of another physical. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy.