Chapter 7: Breakfast Buddies
Victoria awoke early to find Chase sprawled on her sitting room couch, his lab coat acting as a blanket where he had fallen the previous evening. The sun had started to peak through the sitting room window but it hadn't reached his face. Victoria moved off into the kitchen, not ready to wake him, and began her morning routine of coffee and emails.
The strong aroma of coffee woke Robert minutes later and he wandered into the breakfast corner where Victoria sat in the sun of the morning with her news paper and her toast.
"Morning," Chase said sheepishly as he grabbed the coffee mug that was left out for him.
"Morning," Victoria responded between sips of her coffee and turning the paper pages. "Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge," she added as her iPhone pinged and she ignored it.
"Is it House?" Chase asked as he sat down beside her at the little bistro set.
"No," she shook her head and almost laughed, "It's Taub and Forman," she added as the phone pinged again and she ignored that as well, "they're pissed and they have no idea where you are because you're not answering your phone and I'm not responding within a satisfactory period of time," she laughed as the phone pinged for a third time. "I'm going to tell them I'm having a glorious bubble bath so I will not be responding at all." she giggled as her fingers flew over the touch screen and then she laid the phone down again. "Actually, that sounds like a good idea." She added seriously considering the bubble bath.
"Do you torment them like this often?" Robert asked slyly.
"Oh sweetie, if I told you that, I'd have to kill you," Victoria teased, "I do it more often then you need to know about," she winked.
"So most of the texts from you are lies?" Chase laughed.
"Everybody lies," Victoria smiled, "but Shh, don't tell anyone!" she added playfully
"Alright Mussolini, I know all about your trickery," Chase winked.
"I have to live up to the reputation House has put into place for me," Victoria stated as she folded up her news paper and opened a book instead.
"So when are we going to waltz back into PPTH and back to our patient?" Chase asked.
"House is reviewing the video from last night, while Taub and Forman are breaking and entering. I've been getting updates on our patient all morning from my spies at the hospital, so I'm not in any rush, are you?" she asked and sipped her coffee. "You can go back whenever you like. I, on the other hand, would rather do sweet jack all here over doing nothing of consequence at the hospital. And I am still contemplating the bubble bath."
"House will come looking for us," Chase sighed.
"He'll look for us but he will avoid the patient at all costs," Victoria laughed sarcastically.
"Well, this one may hold an interest to him. He likes musicians," Chase stated.
"He likes interesting people, I get that, but shouldn't you be interested in every patient, especially if there is a mystery surrounding their medical diagnosis?" she asked.
"you would think, but that's not how House functions," Chase smiled, "he's a mystery I've been trying to diagnose for years and when you think you have him figured out, something new happens and everything changes."
"You're alluding to the relationship between him and Lisa," Victoria stated.
"More so with Rachel," Chase admitted.
"Children change people and so does love," she shrugged, "that doesn't surprise me at all. What does, however, are the length to which House will go to be right. He's really quite noble if you think about it."
"Whatever it is he is, it's not noble," Chase stated argumentatively.
"That is your opinion," Victoria shrugged.
"You don't know House like I do. I've been through the ringer with that man."
"So I've heard," Victoria stated, laying her book aside, "he's broken you, from what I understand."
"He's not the only thing."
"No, you just change your mind all of the time. From the church to medicine, from single to married and back again, and then from moral conduct to player, aside for your departure from the church, I'd say House played a huge role in a lot of your changes, directly or indirectly." Victoria observed as she watched him carefully, "you're quite the mystery yourself."
"And you just need to solve or disprove the mystery?" Chase asked angrily.
"Yes, and I have all my life. That's probably why I got recruited for this job," Victoria stated throwing her hands up to avoid the confrontation.
"You didn't apply for this?" Chase asked.
"Nope," Cicciliano answered, "I was perfectly content with my life in Rome, but the idea of working with House, he is world famous you know, and the raise did help change my mind. Had it not come up, I can guarantee that I would still be working for Vatican breaking down people's hopes and dreams by disproving the miracles that they saw as the most glorious of gifts from God."
"That is really kinda messed up and morbid of you," Chase stated, "it sounds like you enjoyed it."
"I did, I loved the science and the complexity of so many things. I loved seeing the extent to which doctors would go to, and in that, I saw the miracles that people didn't understand. The lengths that the human body will go to and determination to fix things is miraculous, but people want it to be unexplainable and sometimes, and I've seen and believed, it does happen. I believe whole heartedly in God, as most people of faith do, because I have been to that edge and seen what cannot be explained by modern medicine and science." Victoria explained. "You would be shocked and very much surprised at the things that people will do. Don't get me wrong. The job, as most do, had its downfalls. I am happy to not be the bad guy anymore."
"That's where House thrives," Chase joked.
"What I want to know is where you became so jaded. I mean I know divorce can do that, I've been there, but you're more then damaged."
"It's a long and convoluted story," Chase sighed.
"I've heard a million of those," Victoria said. "It was part of the job description."
Chase proceeded, with caution, not really knowing why he was telling this relative newcomer about the dictator and his direct and indirect role in his demise.
"Ah, so the hero complex is what we are dealing with," Victoria said after the story had been told and Chase had turned to stone before her eyes.
"I wouldn't say there was anything heroic in what I did," Chase stated as he looked past Victoria and out the window.
"You saved millions of lives," Victoria said calmly and philosophically, "and yet people don't see the good that you've done. By risking yourself, your livelihood and your mental state, you effectively removed the evil from a country plagued by genocide. If you would have been caught you would have been punished to the full extent of the crime committed, but people live because of you. Again, you can't help but see the nobility in what the people that knew your secret did to protect you and effectively made you the hero for millions. House saved your life by manipulating the evidence, Forman took the fall for you and you made a conscious decision for the welfare of the greater good. And now, you are self destructing. You've gone from selfless to selfish."
"You make me sound great and then you break me down again," Chase stated.
"It's the job darling," Victoria smiled as she stood and poured herself another cup of coffee.
"In the situation, what would you have done?" Chase asked after a long silence.
"I would have killed the man, or I would have refused to treat him in the first place." Victoria stated, "And if I felt any remorse for my own behaviour I would have prayed for forgiveness, but I would not have been sorry for saving all those lives."
"Hmm," Chase sighed.
"You'd be surprised at how many times this very story, this act of instinct and preservation has actually happened," Victoria added as she sat down again, "and people around the world petition to have men and women such as yourself canonized for it. Those that were prosecuted for their actions, people worship them now."
"Well my wife at the time saw me as nothing more than a murderer," Chase stated.
"And you think that is what ended your marriage?" Victoria asked in shock, "the marriage would have failed had you not ended that mans life. She would have found something else that she didn't agree with, or you would have seen the rivalry you both had in the field."
"You believe that?" Chase asked in disbelief.
"My ex-husband filed for divorce when I was hired on with Vatican," Victoria stated, "He called me a murderer of the faith working from the inside. What he didn't tell me what that he had applied for the job himself, but I was far more qualified."
"Ouch."
"So, was Doctor Cameron always against the idea of ending the life of the dictator, or was she just angry that you were selfless enough to risk everything to do it?" Victoria asked.
Chase stopped and stared at her as the phone on the table pinged again.
"Are you going to answer that?" he asked deflecting.
"Nope," Victoria smiled and pushed the phone across the table for him to read the text.
'Are you finished yet?'