Through Sickness and In Health
Doctor's Orders
Chase was nervous. No, actually, he was terrified. He and House were sat in Princeton General's waiting room, waiting to see Doctor Jacob Stevenson. His leg was bouncing up and down nervously, and a hand was twirling hair around his fingers subconsciously. He was just a bundle of nerves. 'What if the doctor says I'm a flight risk? What if I can't go to Australia tomorrow? What if he doesn't believe me? What if he thinks it's all for attention?' he thought to himself, his mind whirling. He was pulled from his thoughts by House taking hold of the hand that was playing with his hair.
"You're thinking to loud." House kissed the back of his hand. "It'll be fine. Stevenson's a good doctor." Chase nodded and let out a shaky breath.
"Yeah. It'll be fine. Nothing's gonna happen. I'm a doctor, I know the basics of what's gonna happen. We'll finish this and get any meds needed and then go home and finish getting ready for tomorrow." He rambled nervously. House let him, knowing that his wombat needed to let off his nervous energy somehow. House rubbed his thumb over the back of Chase's hand while they continued to wait.
"Robert Chase?" A young nurse called, looking up from a clipboard. "Doctor Stevenson will see you now." She smiled kindly in his direction when he stood up. He tried to ignore how his legs shook as he followed the nurse. He grabbed House's hand again for comfort, cringing slightly when he realized how sweaty his palms were, but House either didn't notice, or didn't care. The older man just continued to rub the pad of his thumb on Robert's hand. As the pair got closer to the exam room, Chase's steps slowed and his breathing shallowed and quickened. House politely told the nurse they would be there in a moment, and pulled the blonde closer.
"Baby, what's the matter?" Chase looked up at him, panic on his face and a layer of tears in his eyes.
"I can't do it." He choked out. "I just – oh god – please…"
"Hey, Robbie, hey – look at me." The pair locked eyes. "It's going to be alright. I'm going to be with you the whole time." Chase nodded, trying to swallow the tears. House pulled him into a quick, tight hug, kissing his forehead lightly. "Ready?" he asked once the younger man seemed to have calmed down.
"Yeah…sorry." Chase whispered, slowly edging his way towards the office that the nurse had shown them too.
"Nothing to be sorry for." House promised, leading the way.
"Hello, Greg!" Doctor Stevenson greeted his friend as the couple entered the room. He smiled brightly at Chase. "You must Robert, I'm Doctor Stevenson, but please, call me Austin." Chase gave him a nervous smile, and shook the doctor's hand. Stevenson was a tall man, roughly House's height, with round glasses and a balding head. He looked friendly enough.
"Hello." He greeted quietly, taking a seat by his boyfriend and taking a hold of his hand.
"So, what seems to be the problem today?" Stevenson directed to Chase, who stuttered for a moment before turning to House, silently asking the older man to explain, feeling like a child. House rubbed his hand comfortingly.
"Basically," House began. "We think that Rob has a form of depression or anxiety, more than likely, both." He explained. "He often goes through periods of not wanting to do anything but lie in bed for days, and goes through a destructive cycle of self-harm. And he has an issue with gaining weight, having dealt with bulimia when he was younger." Stevenson nodded thoughtfully.
"What about anxiety-wise?" he asked.
"He gets all shaky and can work himself into panic attacks when he's nervous or scared about something, or feeling unsafe for some reason. The only time he seems to be able to shut down the anxiety is when he is at work, in doctor mode." House told him. Stevenson turned to Chase, who was staring at his feet, and his knuckles had turned white from gripping House's hand tightly.
"Robert, could you explain to me how you feel when you have to go into a situation that makes you nervous or scared?" Chase looked up from the floor, swallowing nervously. He regretted agreeing to this. He just wanted to be at home.
"It, uh, I, um…" the Australian stuttered before turning to House with a layer of tears in his eyes. "Greg…" he whimpered softly. House pulled the kid in for a tight hug, making eye contact with the other doctor above the shaking Aussie's blonde head. Stevenson nodded silently; pulling out his prescription pad as Chase tried to calm himself in House's safe hold. After a few more moments in his boyfriend's strong embrace, he pulled away uncertainly but stayed glued to House's arm.
"Sorry…" he whispered, glancing up at his doctor quickly before looking away. Stevenson smiled gently.
"That's quite alright, Robert." He handed over the prescription page. "It says in your file that you were on fluoxetine when you were a teenager, but that obviously didn't help you, so I want to put you on Lexapro for two months to see if that helps with the anxiety and depressive episodes." He explained. "There are side effects of course; constipation, heartburn, decreased libido, ejaculation delay." Chase blushed. House grinned. "I'll start you on 10mg a day and we can go from there, okay?" Chase took the script, nodding slowly.
"Okay." He said softly, one hand going to his hair.
"As for the weight issue, I'm going to be rude and ask you to step on the scale for me." Robert stepped shakily up to the scales, making sure not to look at the number before quickly retaking his seat, after having his height measured.
"With your weight and height, you are roughly 15lbs underweight." The doctor told them. Chase had to bite back a smile, even though he hated himself for having to do so. House, on the other hand, frowned. The kid had lost more weight than he had first thought. "For now, I am only going to advise you to try to put the weight back on yourself. I'm assuming that Greg will be monitoring your eating habits from now on?" At House's brief nod, he continued. "We will weigh you again at your next appointment, and depending on if you have gained, lost, or stayed the same weight, we can decide what to do from there." Stevenson smiled encouragingly at his new patient, who obviously preferred to be the doctor other than the patient. Chase smiled nervously back, his hand twirling his golden locks around his fingers. "Is there anything else that you would like to talk about?"
"His hair." House spoke up again, gently taking hold of Chase's fiddling hand. He plays and tugs at his hair without realising. I would hate to see those pretty locks go to waste." He joked, trying to make Chase feel better. Stevenson chuckled, while Chase let out a weak grin.
"Hmm…it could be related to the anxiety, so see if taking the meds help. If not, we can try something else." House nodded, and thanked his friend, standing and shaking his hand.
"I owe you one."
"It's no problem, House. I can tell that you really care about him." House bit the inside of his lip for a moment, looking over to Chase, who was reading a poster about chlamydia by the door. He lowered his voice. "How can I help him?" Stevenson smiled. He and House had known each other since med school, but he had never seen him look so worried. So…in love. He placed a comforting hand on the crippled man's shoulder.
"Just be there for him. He obviously trusts you and feels safe with you. I can see the love in his eyes for you. Just hold him and make sure he knows that you will always be there." House nodded thankfully, before bidding farewell and heading out to the pharmacy with Robert in tow.
HOUSECHASE
"Thank you, Greg." Chase said softly into the darkness from his stop across House's chest. They had finished packing after getting back from filling Chase's prescription, and decided to lay down for a few hours before heading to catch their flight.
"What for?" House asked, running a hand through the blonde locks that he loved.
"For everything." Chase whispered, feeling foolish. He sounded like he was in a bad American chic-flick. "For not getting mad, for not running away…for staying." He whispered. He felt lips being pressed onto his crown.
"I will always be here, okay? I'm not leaving." House promised. "You're my wombat. I've spent too long House-training you to give you up." The older man laughed at his own joke.
"Haha, very funny." Chase grumbled, trying not to smile.
"Thank you." House grinned. "Now, try to get some sleep before we have to leave." Chase nodded against his chest.
"Love you."
"Love you too."
Author's Note: Sorry this has taken so long, school has been taking up all of my time recently! I would also like to say that I know I don't tend to reply to reviews, but despite that I am EXTREMELY grateful for those of you that do take time out of your day to leave a little comment, it brightens my day a little to see what you guys have to say about this little story! I will my best in the future to reply to any reviews left, but I cannot make any promises, as I am a very awkward person! But again, please know that I am very grateful and thankful to those of you that do leave reviews. And to those of you that just read the story! Anyway, I hope you guys liked this one!
