Okay, I'm back, and with the longest chapter yet. I said I was going to have this up sooner, but I was working on an other story instead. It's called "Curious" for those of you who haven't read it yet. Just a quick one shot Foreman/Chase story. No slash though. Poor Foreman is always ignored. There are maybe, what ten, twelve stories that are Foreman centered? And out of those twelve there are maybe four that have Foreman/Chase in them. And like, two stories that aren't slash. Slim pickin's. Rumor has it though that his dad is coming on the show. (Then maybe they'll bring Cameron's dad on and House's dad will come back and they'll dig up Rowan's coffin and we'll have a family reunion!) Anyway, did anybody but me notice how ill Cam was on Tuesday's episode? Maybe she really lost her naive innocence after finding out that women was trying to kill her husband. Or more likely she was just ticked about losing twenty bucks. And how did Chase know about Wilson's toenails? I have been up all night trying to figure that one out. And again, poor, poor Foreman. He kept trying to tell his life story and no one would listen. But as I said above, there is some major Foreman angst coming. (There is a two part episode coming up called Euphoria, which I think is about him.)

Now we're in the beginning of Role Model. Up until now things have been pretty much inline with the show, but this is where it starts to get different. But so I sound medically sound, I'm going to follow the show's outline patient wise.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed. There are no words to express how happy reviews make me. To make things simpler, I'm going only to post replies to anonymous reviews. Fanfiction members I will email.

krtshadow: way to visualize:) glad you like it.

Tenka-chan: hey, reviews are great too! Angst rocks. Check out the c2 "Australian Apathy" run by yours truly. I think that there is also another new C2 that's pretty much the same thing now.

Jess: glad you're still into house. Its easy too get hooked, huh?

Bessie: thanks much. There's really not a lot of good Chase stuff out there, so I'll do my best.

Chouse: Hey, I'll be happy to give him a hug to.:) And as pairings I agree. (Although I'm assuming you're a Chase/House fan.Chouse) And over my dead authoress body will this be H/C. That pairing annoys the crap out of me.. I think the reason it does because then there is no one for Chase, ya know? C/C isn't that bad, but few people can write it well. It always comes out corny. H/Ch is alright, I'm just not a big slash fan. Then there are people who make an OC just to date Chase. I'm not saying Ocs are bad, or Ocs that date Chase are bad, its just come on, give them some STRUCTURE! Of course I may end up being a big hypocrite, as when I'm almost done with this story I may do a H/C Chase/OC story, but anyway . . .(bet you weren't expecting a rant like that, huh?)

Daphne: Glad you like it. I think he probably is the most complex to, except for maybe House himself. I'm gonna do his reaction this chapter.

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own House M.D. and neither do you. (Unless you are David Shore and if you are, whoa. I am honored.)

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House leaned back in his chair, fiddling with his cane. Hadn't he been doing the same thing earlier? No, then he had been twirling his cane. He only twirled when he was content or bored. Now he was merely confused. He replayed the meeting with Cuddy and Vogler in his mind. Cuddy tells him that, like for everything else in his life, he's late. She asks him who he wants to fire. He says Chase. Vogler looks funny. That, the firing Chase/looking funny part was where it went wrong. It was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be House walking out furious, (but internally triumphant) with an invincible duckling and two ducklings that had just "gotten a second chance." Instead he was left standing there, one Australian intensivist short.

He finally put down his cane and stood. This, this musing to himself, was getting him nowhere. House was going to have to do the inevitable; fire Chase. Thinking about why was pointless. Besides, he now had a new problem, actually firing Chase. House had never really fired someone. Sure, he had lost countless amounts of fellows, but they had all quit. He may have had something to do with why they quit . . .but that didn't matter now. He needed advice on to how to fire someone, and there was only one person he could trust about something this significant: Wilson.

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He sensed them coming before they actually appeared. Vogler was first, the picture of confidence. He had money, which meant he had power, which meant he had the run of the hospital. Vogler could (and was) get away with murder and no one would care. Certainly Cuddy, who was oh so elegantly failing to match his strides, didn't. Because even though he was "CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD" Cuddy still ran everything. She could get away with even more than he could.

Vogler sensed him too. A lone duckling in the middle of the pond during hunting season. As Vogler's brown eyes looked up, Chase's aqua eyes went down. He couldn't look at him. Not after what Vogler was doing . . .after what he had done. Not now.

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"Wait. I'm confused. He did what?"

House sighed and sunk down into the chair across Wilson's desk. He was already past this part, so naturally he expected Wilson to be as well. "He told me I had to fire Chase."

"But I thought you said he wouldn't make you fire Chase. That was why you were firing Chase in the first place?"

"Well, he is."

"Yeah, but why?"

"Remember? This part of Vogler's 'showing me that he is in charge, and I have to do whatever he says or else we lose his money' thing. It's the reason I've gotta fire anybody."

"Yeah, but why is he letting you fire Chase? He needs Chase."

"Maybe he doesn't. Maybe he found someone else. How should I know?"

Wilson gave him a frustrated look. "Or maybe Chase never went to him in the first place. How sure were you before you decided to put the kid's job on the line?"

"Well, it sounds awful when you say it like that."

"House."

"He was lying. I'm sure of it."

"Well maybe you were wrong for once."

"Does it really matter? He's gone either way."

"I think it does. If he was going to Vogler then you should probably fire him. If he didn't then he's getting canned because you didn't trust him enough."

"He's getting canned because Vogler is an idiot!" House was shouting now, but he didn't care. It wasn't his fault that Chase had squealed. It wasn't his fault that Vogler hadn't protected Chase. It had nothing to do with him. He was just the messenger.

Or at least that is what he told himself.

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"Senator Gary Wright presents with nausea, headache, and mental confusion. During an important speech too. Voters are gonna love that."

Foreman glanced at the paper he was holding before looking back at House. "The LP showed no sign of infection and the MRI was fairly clean."

"I guess we can tell him he's fairly healthy and can go home."

"Well, there is something in Broca's area, but it's small, low intensity."

Chase looked up. "Most likely just background noise."

Cameron shrugged. "Or it could be a brain tumor or infection."

House smirked. "If we go with that we get to cut into his brain, and that's always fun. Foreman, go and get it scheduled. Cameron, get a history."

"But didn't you and Foreman already-"

"He doesn't do it nearly as good as you do. Foreman didn't find out anything about the Senator's hopes and dreams. Well,other than the one about him wanting to president."Cameron merely nodded, looking dazed, and walked out behind Foreman.

Chase stood. House hadn't given him anything to do, but that was fine with him. He had patients in the ICU he could go check on. Before he could get to the door, however, House called out to him.

"Chase."

"Yeah?"

House took a deep breath. He had to do this now, before the other ducklings got back. Chase deserved that much. Well, if Chase hadn't snitched on him. House had to know once and for all. "Chase, did you or did you not go to Vogler?"

He saw the mix of fear, frustration, and hurt that penetrated the Aussie's face. "No House. I told you. It's not me."

"Chase, I need to know."

"House, I told you, I didn't do it! What more do you want from me? Yeah, Vogler came up to me. Said he could save my job. I told him no! He talked to Cameron and Foreman too. Why aren't you badgering them?"

House blinked. Getting angry was rare for Chase, but he had said that little speech with such vigor that the duckling had started to get a little red in the face. There was a pesky Wilsonish voice echoing in his head. You didn't trust him enough . . .You didn't trust him enough. It was really getting on House's nerves, particularly because the voice was starting to make sense. He wasn't really sure what to do now. House had been hoping for a confession from Chase, which would made firing him a whole lot easier. But even if Chase was innocent, he was still gone.

"What?"

House looked up to see the look of hurt and frustration gone on Chase's face. The fear had completely taken over instead. "What do you mean 'still gone'?"

Had he said that out loud? "Chase, look I thought you ratted me out to Vogler, and-"

"After I told you I didn't?"

"Well, it seemed like you were lying, and I thought Vogler would need you so-"

"So you fired me." House watched Chase's expression carefully. The only way to really know what Chase was thinking or feeling was through his eyes. That was why House had thought he was lying the first time, because his eyes had shown fear. At the time House had assumed it was fear that Chase had been found out, but now he was guessing it was the fear of getting fired. The same fear was in his eyes now, along with the previous hurt and frustration and even anger.

"Chase, look-"

Chase cut him off yet again."I get it. You didn't believe me." House tried to cut him off, but Chase was walking out the door before he had the chance.

TBC

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