Disclaimer: I wanted to own Chase for a short while because, let's face it, the man has GREAT hair. But alas... He was not selling.

Chapter Two

Saturday came soon enough for Chase, and before he knew it, he was putting on a suit and tie for his… Well… Could he call it a date? His whatever-he-had with Cameron tonight. He'd chosen a black suit, if only because it looked the best. He hated going out to see a show and seeing tons of people wearing jeans and tee shirts. It was like they had no respect for performers anymore.

He checked the clock and finished with his tie. For some odd reason, he was nervous. Extremely nervous. What was it about Cameron that made him so nervous? She was a friend and a colleague and they'd put that whole sex thing behind them, right? At least … she'd put it behind her. He grimaced as he picked up his keys. For some reason, he had a damned hard time putting it behind him.

But he'd deal with it. He'd put it in the back of his mind and take Cameron out for a show and some food and know that they were friends, and nothing more. After all, he was seriously considering re-entering seminary, and he felt genuinely guilty for the thoughts about Cameron that plagued him. A tiny little voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he wasn't a priest yet, and that he ought to feel free to do whatever the hell he wanted.

What he wanted to do was squish that little voice with his thumb and never listen to it again. That little voice had gotten him into plenty of trouble before, and that was all it would ever do. He frowned as he pulled up in front of Cameron's apartment. His hands gripped the steering wheel and he took in a slow, deep breath. What happened last time was not going to happen again; this much, he knew. He'd just go up there, knock on her door, and they'd come back down here. It was fine.

But it still took him at least five minutes to get his hands off of the wheel, wipe them on the sides of his pants, and head up to her apartment. He shouldn't be so nervous around her! This was Cameron. She was too nice to mock him, and she wasn't about to allow a repeat performance. So this was fine. He knocked on her door.

She answered with a smile as she was putting an earring in. "Come on in," she told him, nodding behind her and kicking the door open a little wider with the tip of her foot. "I just need to find my shoes."

Chase smiled at her and entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. Cameron looked amazing in a dress that had straps crossing her back in a loose x-shape. He watched as she managed to finish putting on her earrings without a mirror and slip into her shoes at the same time. Women never ceased to amaze him with their multi-tasking ways. Once she was fully-dressed, she grabbed a shawl off of her couch and faced Chase.

"Well?" she asked, doing a quick turn. "Do I look decent?"

He grinned. "You look … fabulous," he answered honestly. "Are you going to want to stop somewhere for food after? I think we're both a bit over-dressed for a café."

Cameron laughed softly. "We'll see after the show." She grabbed up her evening purse and keys and led the way out of her apartment, locking the door behind her. "Thank you for inviting me tonight. I needed to get out."

"No problem," he replied, waiting for her before heading for the car. "I wasn't about to ask Foreman or House… I'd rather they didn't question my sexuality any more than they already do."

Cameron grinned, which turned into a smile when Chase opened her door for her. She thanked him and slid inside. "You know, I don't think they question it seriously. They do it to throw you off the scent. Face it, Chase," she said as she buckled her seatbelt. "They want your hot Australian ass."

Chase laughed as he backed out of his parking space. "They want your hot female ass more than they want my hot Australian one. Having a vagina wins over having an accent any day."

Cameron smiled and looked out the window, watching the scenery pass her by. "So … how much were the tickets?" she asked hesitantly. "I'd hate for you to pay for both…"

"Don't worry about it," he replied suddenly, hoping to cut her off before she said something about how this wasn't a date. "I would have paid for them both anyway, so it isn't that big of a deal."

"But, I-"

"Keep your money, Cameron. It's on me."

Cameron frowned and settled back into her seat, looking out the window once more. "Okay… But dinner's on me."

With a small smile, Chase glanced over at her. "Deal."

---

"That … was amazing," Cameron raved as they left the theatre. "I mean … the costumes, the lighting, the music, Chase!"

Chase laughed as Cameron grabbed onto his arm. "You've never seen Aida before?"

"Not the musical! I saw the opera with my parents when I was younger, but this! This was … it was better!"

He grinned stupidly as he watched her, her eyes lit up due to her bright smile. There was one thing that he couldn't deny himself, and that was seeing her like this. He'd never seen it before… She was carefree. She wasn't trying to concentrate on a case, she wasn't high, and she wasn't in the throes of… Oh, God, don't go there, he thought to himself.

He cleared his throat and tried to put those thoughts in the back of his mind. "So were you hungry…?"

"Hmm… Yes." She continued to have one arm wrapped around his, and he definitely didn't mind. "Where did you want to go?"

"We could go to that café I mentioned earlier, but we're a bit over-dressed… There's a restaurant down the street, if you want. We wouldn't even have to drive there."

"Works for me," she said with a smile. "Thanks again for inviting me to this, Chase. I think I needed it more than I knew."

"Anytime. Been cramped up in your apartment for too long?" he asked curiously.

"Pretty much. I just haven't gotten out lately. It was nice to see an old friend and go out to see a show all in one day."

They got to the restaurant and Chase ordered them a table, and they stood in the foyer to wait for it. Chase shoved his hands in his pockets and resisted the urge to pull out a piece of gum. He always felt like he had to be chewing on something. "I'm glad you were able to come. I would've hated to give up the tickets."

"You wouldn't have gone by yourself?" she asked curiously, rummaging around in her purse for something. "Are you dating the girl who was supposed to come with you?"

"Dating…?" He laughed and shook his head. "No. I just hate going to things like this by myself." The hostess came back and took them to their table, which was on the balcony. Chase thanked God; he needed fresh air. "Jane, the woman who was supposed to come… She's a woman from my undergrad years. She's doing some study on doctors and wanted to ask me a few questions. Since she was planning on flying out in the first place, I suggested we catch dinner and a show. But she had to change her flight plans."

"That's sort of sad," Cameron commented, finally finding what she'd been looking for in her purse. She pulled out a bobby pin and pinned back an annoying strand of hair that had been getting into her face. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Maybe six years ago. But we're always e-mailing back and forth, so it isn't like I never speak to her." The waiter came by and asked for their drink orders. Chase ordered a beer and nodded to Cameron to ask what she wanted.

"Just a tea," she responded. The waiter left to get the orders and Chase gave Cameron a curious look. "One of us has to be sober," she teased.

He rolled his eyes. "One beer is not going to put me over. Scared I can drink you under the table?"

"Basically," she answered honestly. "So… Foreman said something about you leaving," she said hesitantly. "Is it true?"

"Leaving?" he asked with a frown. "No… Not quite. I'm trying to make up my mind about something."

"About what?"

He sighed and played with a napkin. "I've … been considering returning to Australia. Studying for seminary again."

Cameron was silent and she studied her coworker inquisitively. "How come?" she finally asked.

Chase frowned as he considered his answer. "A few reasons… I just … I feel the need to serve God. It's as simple as that. I shied away from it years ago and I feel ready to try it again."

"Well… How come you left in the first place?"

"The time just wasn't right. I wasn't ready to take my vows."

"And you feel like you are now?"

"I feel like I could be." He thanked the waiter, who set their drinks down and asked for their meal orders. Once he got them, he was off again, and the conversation resumed. "I'm ready for it now."

Cameron thought on Chase's comments, ringing her finger around the lip of her glass of tea. "I don't believe in God," she said bluntly, and with an unapologetic shrug. "But I do think that if He were real… You're doing a greater service by figuring out what's wrong with and healing patients. You're helping people live, Chase. You may not be giving them the word of God, but you're letting them see bits and pieces of Him every time you send them out of the hospital."

Chase was silent for a while after Cameron finished and gave her a slow, thankful smile. "You've just said what House did," he said quietly. "Except in a much friendlier and more supportive way."

"House … isn't as horrible as you try to make him out to be," Cameron responded hesitantly.

"You're so loyal to him… Has he ever really given you reason to put that much faith in him?" Chase probed.

"Has God given you a good reason to want to give up medicine to work for Him?" Cameron shot back. She sighed and tapped her fingers on the table. "I'm not trying to compare House to God… Honestly. But it's the only analogy I can think of to use with you."

Chase grinned. "You are trying to compare House to God. Don't lie." But he let up on his teasing and sat back in his chair, tapping a straw on the table. "And it's infinitely different in my case. You really don't believe in God?"

"No," she answered unapologetically. "I don't. I don't believe that there can be some supreme being meant to be only good when there's so much evil. People… People think that they can put all of their faith into this one being and that He'll solve all of their problems. It isn't true; He's not going to be there to heal a sick child. He isn't even going to be there to stop a mother from getting an abortion when thousands of women are dying to have the baby that they're about to get rid of. If God's up there, I doubt He really cares what the hell we're doing down here. We're like ants to Him; we live in our little, contained farms and He prods at us every so often until he loses interest once again."

Chase looked at Cameron in awe. She really believed that, didn't she? She really, truly believed that was how it worked. "God isn't there to interfere with our lives," he said softly. "He's there to help us only when we need Him most. If He helped with every small problem, then we wouldn't have free will."

"The idea of God is preposterous," Cameron maintained. "He doesn't help with small things? That's fine. But He could have stopped dozens of huge things. The tsunami in Indonesia? Hitler? Hurricane Katrina?"

"Cameron, you have to understand the mindset," Chase explained calmly. He'd run into people like Cameron before and had learned how to handle them. It was a part of studying to be a priest. "All of those things have happened for a reason. Ultimately, they'll cause good in the world. Look at the response to the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina: millions of people did what they could to help. And Hitler didn't take over the world. Much as I hate to say it, what he did opened the world's eyes as to how much hate can be out there. For every negative thing that's happened, it's brought something good."

Cameron chuckled and cocked her head to the side, studying Chase. "Do you have automated responses pre-programmed into your brain?"

Chase grinned. "Sort of. I don't like arguing or debating religion because it's pointless. It doesn't get anyone anywhere. If you're ready to go to God, than you'll do it on your own; you'll seek out someone who can give you His word. Until then, you're going to continue to believe what you want to believe, and it isn't my place to change that."

"Even if you become a priest?"

"Especially if I become a priest." The waiter set their food down in front of them and asked if they needed anything else. When they answered in the negative, the waiter gave them a smile and walked off. "I don't see it as a priest's job to proselytize," Chase continued as he ate his late dinner. "His job is to help his congregation."

"You know what I never understood?" Cameron asked as she spun a spaghetti noodle around her fork. "How come priests can't marry? I mean, they're supposed to provide counsel to the married couples in their churches. How can they understand if they've never been married?"

"Originally, priests were married," Chase informed her. "But in the middle ages, the Catholic Church realized that priests were gaining all of this land that should belong to the church and leaving the land to their offspring, who didn't stay with the church. Since the church was losing land, they deemed that priests could no longer marry. They gave some cock-and-bull excuse about priests needing to abstain from sexual activity in order to be 'pure' enough to preach in order to cover their asses. The rule stuck, but there's a small group in the church that's trying to repeal it."

"You still keep up with what's going on in the church?"

Chase smiled and shrugged sheepishly. "It was my life for years. I can't just give it up."

"I'll bet you still go every Sunday, don't you?" Cameron teased. "Do you even sing in the choir?"

Chase laughed and tapped Cameron's foot with his own. "I'm not a choirboy."

"If you say so…"

"I'm not!"

"I just… I have to know…" Cameron was holding back giggles and Chase was dreading whatever was about to come out of her mouth.

"Yes?"

"Were you one of those boys that wore the funny robes and carried candles?"

"Altar boy," Chase replied, a small blush making its way onto his face. "And yeah. When I was younger."

Cameron fell into a fit of giggles. "Want to wear my terry-cloth robe? For old time's sake?"

Chase laughed and threw his straw at her. "Like you never did something you really loved when you were younger," he challenged.

"Are you kidding me?" Cameron asked, still giggling. "I was in dance classes."

"Oh, I'd just love to see you in a tutu."

"I never wore a tutu," she laughed, taking another bite of her dinner. "I was in tap class for years before my mom put me in ballet. One of my undergrad majors was even dance."

"One of?"

"I double-majored. The other was chemistry."

"Only you…"

"Hey. My dance years have nothing on your altar boy years. At least my costumes were cute."

"They weren't costumes! The robes are symbolic," Chase replied with a laugh.

"Symbolic of what?" Cameron asked with a grin. "Homoeroticism in the church?"

"Even you go on about my sexuality. I ought to press a lawsuit against you, Foreman, and House. I'd get hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"Yeah," Cameron said with a small snort. "And all of my student loan payments."

"They can't be that bad," Chase said optimistically.

Cameron quirked an eyebrow at him as she finished off her dinner. "Let's see… I got full rides throughout my undergrad years, so they were pain-free. However, med school was pretty expensive. Twenty five thousand dollars per year times four years… So that's one hundred thousand dollars. Not counting all of the interest that I owe."

Chase's eyes widened and he stared at Cameron in awe. "Didn't you get any scholarships or grants or anything?"

"Sure. But I still had living expenses. Scholarships and grants don't pay for everything."

"Still… That's … a lot of money."

"You paid just as much." At least, your dad did, she thought bitterly. But she gave him a smile and took a sip of her tea. "How's your dinner?"

He smiled at her and told her it was great. It had started out that way, at least. Now it tasted just as bitter as Cameron had sounded.