-Ch 10-

Cameron had the look in her eye. The look that said she desperately wanted to coddle and comfort the poor suffering person in front of her. Only problem was, every time she tried to get near, Chase would start panicking and House would hit her with his cane. The other doctors fared little better, though Wilson was allowed slightly closer, as long as kept his hands to himself.

"Chase I'm not going anywhere. I just have to talk to the other nice co-workers. And since you won't let them come over here, I need to over there. Wilson keep him company, I'll give you all the juicy details later."

Chase looked upset.

"Oh stop it! It's Wilson! There is no one on the planet more harmless or nice! People thank him for telling them they're dying! Suck it up!" House snapped.

Chase scowled and tried to edge away from the Oncologist.

House rolled his eyes, and put his cane on the bed. "Here, if he gets too close, beat him." Chase looked at Wilson again and moved the cane to the other side of his bed as if he feared the doctor was going to make a dive for it. House snickered and moved to the far end of the room with Cuddy, Foreman and Cameron.

"Alright so what happened! How could a simple physical turn into...this!"? Cuddy demanded.

"Apparently Chase was skittish, Gray ordered Ativan, Chase refused, Gray gave it to him anyway, something got mixed up and our little wombat wound up getting sliced open. The Antivan wore off as the Anesthesia kicked in, so he heard them prepping him for surgery. Now he's drugged out of his head, scared out of his mind, and so far gone he's not even able to keep up his normal pretense of 'I'm fine! Who needs medical attention! I can do my own physicals!' "

Cameron looked over at Chase. "Oh God that's horrible! How can we help him?"

"By staying away. Doctors freak him. Yeah yeah yeah I know he is one." He said, seeing the look on Foreman's face. "Apparently his phobia is fine when he's the one playing doctor, but the moment you get him into a hospital bed, he's flipping out."

"But you're a doctor." Foreman pointed out.

"Yeah, well apparently I don't act like one."

They all looked over at Chase who scowled druggedly at all of them, before whipping back around to glare at Wilson and slap a hand over his IV port as the doctor got to close. Wilson held up his hands and backed off.

House snorted and rolled his eyes. "You can expect a lot of freaking, and demands to go home from him."

"Shouldn't he be given a sedative? He's already torn his stitches once." Foreman was always one to take the practical approach.

"No. No drugs. Tell him everything you plan to do, and if he says no, listen to him."

"He's just had major surgery!"

"Which is why he's in a hospital."

Foreman refused to let the issue rest. "So you're telling us to take our orders from a patient who's so doped up he can't even think straight."

"He's not a patient, he's a doctor." House snapped.

"Excuse me, you want us to take our orders from a doctor who's so doped up he can't even see straight?"

"You take orders from me!" House noticed Cameron's lips twitch in amusement and smirked. Self-effacing druggie humor always worked. That made one duckling on his side.

Cuddy stepped in. "Can you to finish your pissing contest later? I think Doctor Chase needs medical attention. I think it might be better if we leave House to see to that. " Turning to the remaining ducklings she continued. "House's orders stand, for now, as long as it doesn't endanger the patient." She ushered the two young doctors out.

House gave Cuddy a grateful look and Cuddy gave him one promising there would be much more talking later, leaving House alone with Chase and Wilson.

House went back to Chase's bed and lowered him self into a chair with a grunt.

Wilson gave him a small smile from the other side of the bed where he'd give up trying to draw Chase into a conversation, and was just trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

House poked Chase. "Alright, time to see how much damage you did to your self with your constant escape attempts. Wilson, go get me some stuff. Suture kits, disinfectants, bandages, yada, yada. You know."

Wilson nodded getting up to fetch the requested items. Chase sighed in relief as he left.

"Stop that." House scolded. "You're going to hurt his feelings."

Chase scowled at House. "I have a first aid kit at home."

"You're not going home."

"Don't need a hospital." Chase argued.

House was amused by how much his intensivist currently resembled a petulant toddler.

"Tell that to the gaping hole in your side." House batted Chase's hands away and pulled open the gown, starting to remove the bandages.

"Hospital's fault."

"Yes well this is a much better hospital, and I'm a much, much, much better doctor."

Chase sighed staring up at the ceiling. "House I don't want to be here..." He said plaintively.

House was saved by Wilson coming back with a rolling tray containing the medical supplies. Wilson winced at the long red cut and took the soiled bandages from House.

Wilson stayed back as much as possible to avoid upsetting Chase while House quickly surveyed the damage, then cleaned and restitched the incision. He kept an eye on the monitors.

After a few quiet moments House pulled back.

"Alright no organs have fallen out yet, but you have to lay still, stay clam, and heal if you want your little wombat-y ass to ever get out of here!" House ordered peeling off the bloody gloves.

He looked up in alarm when Chase didn't respond.

"He fell asleep halfway through." Wilson said quietly, handing his friend a bottle of water and a vicodin. He nodded to the hand that had snuck out, snagging the hem of House's shirt. "Looks like you've been elected teddy bear."

House threw back the vicodin, and slumped down into the chair.

"Shut up." He snapped.