Chapter Two

Nicole leaned forward on the counter of the Nurse's Station, pretending to be looking a t a chart. Really, she was looking past the ink-filled papers and vanilla envelope. Walking down the hall, in the direction she was looking, was Chase. He sauntered down the corridor, not having seen her, and nodded at the patients greeting him.

Nicole smiled to herself, thinking of all the events that had happened in the short six months they had been dating. Getting lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed him walk up behind her and grab her hips. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He whispered, purposely breathing in her ear. He knew she hated it, but it made her smile. He loved her smile.

"Chase!" She laughed, pulling away from him. "Stop! You're at work..."

"On the contrary. . . I just got off clinic duty and I still have five more minutes before I start House's work." He took her hands and laced his fingers in between hers. He leaned in to kiss her, but she moved her head.

"Well I don't. I'm on the clock." He gave up on the kiss, but refused to let her hands go. "Cuddy should be coming this way soon. Who knows what she'll do to the employee that's compromising her young, innocent niece."

"And why isn't she in her office, pacing and trying how to keep House under control while pretending she's contemplating something else?"

"She had big news this morning." Chase watched her, waiting for her to elaborate. "There's an intern. Apparently she's some whiz kid who deserves nothing less than House as her mentor."

"House would never go for that." Cameron walked up to them, already in her white lab coat. "What happened after she told him?"

"They had a battle of the wits, like always. I dunno, I didn't stay." Nicole finally freed herself from Chase's grasp and turned back to lean against the counter again.

Cuddy came storming down the hall, her heels making a loud "clicking" noise she she stomped. Rushing past them, she headed to her office. "What was that about?" Foreman asked as he placed his stethoscope around his neck.

"Too late. I already told the story." Nicole laughed, walking in the opposite direction of her aunt. "Time for work, fellow ducklings." She continued as the rest of them followed her.

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House threw his ball at the wall harder than ever. "Trying to renovate, are we?" Nicole smirked, taking her seat at her desk.

"What do we have?" He growled, ignoring Nicole's statement. "This better be good."

"...Testy... Okay then." Nicole sighed, looking from duckling to duckling. She handed Chase the file she had been looking at before. He handed it to House.

House snapped open the folder and fingered through the pages. He closed it just as forcefully and slapped it on his desk. "Cuddy gave me this a week ago and I said 'no'. What makes you think that I changed my mind?" His tone was less harsh, but the cynicism that shown through was enough to make anyone cringe.

"Because there's nothing else." Nicole retorted, standing and crossing her arms. "There was nothing you liked last week so you missed your quota. Therefore, you don't get paid for last week. There's nothing except this this week. Your options at this point: you take this case or you don't get paid for this week either."

"If this woman lived for a week after I was supposed to treat her and didn't, she isn't in extreme need of my care."

Nicole was getting annoyed. If House wasn't getting paid, then she wasn't getting paid and she wouldn't stand for it. "You're taking this case. I don't care if you cure her over the phone. . . God knows you've done that before. . . but you are going to cure her of whatever's wrong. Deal with it."

This soured his mood even more, but he didn't want to get into another fight. At least not yet. "As soon as I refuel my insult meter, you're going down." He mumbled, putting his feet on his desk.

"Can't wait." She took the file from his desk and handed it to Cameron. She left to room, followed by Foreman and Chase. Nicole, however, stayed. "Look, I know the whole 'intern' thing is annoying the shit out of you, but don't take it out on your team. After all, you're going to need to pedal the genius off at least one of them."

House stared at her for an extremely intense moment, then opened his mouth. "Shouldn't you be taking my patient's history right about now?" He sneered. While watching his assistant leave in the same manner her aunt had, House tipped his head back and popped a pill into his mouth. "Damn Cuddy."