A/N: Yay next chapter! I'm sure you can figure this out but it's set before the beginning of season 4. Fanfiction's login thing has been messed up for a few days so it's taken me a while to get this up. It's just supposed to be cute and fun so please review!

Chase sighed as he slammed the locker and grabbed his bag and coat. He was realizing it would take time to get used to the pace of the hospital again. His first day back as a surgeon left him exhausted. The extra hour added to his shift by complications during a routine appendectomy hadn't helped, and now he just wanted to find Cameron and escape.

They came in together that first day because their shifts were scheduled for the same times, and he felt bad for making her wait. Deciding the best place to look was the ICU, he made his way there and stopped at the main desk. "Is Dr. Cameron around here?" he asked a familiar-looking nurse.

"No, she got off about an hour ago. Assuming you're Dr. Chase, she told us you'd probably be looking for her. She said to tell you she'd wait upstairs." Chase frowned, confused. Upstairs? Surely not in Diagnostics...Then he realized his mistake and an amused smile spread across his face. He thanked the nurse and turned toward the stairs.

As he emerged into the warm outdoor air on the roof, Chase smirked at the thought that House had never figured out this hiding place. The only person he'd ever shared it with was Cameron, because he was more than willing to have her join him there. He reached the corner of the roof, where the rail met a wall of a taller portion of the building. The familiar figure sitting below didn't hear him coming; so he stayed silent as he vaulted over the rail, just barely touching the ledge on the other side before dropping gracefully to the balcony.

She gasped as he landed next her. "Rob! Be careful!"

He laughed. "You know I'm fine, but how in the world did you get down here?" Wary of heights, she usually eased herself halfway over and let him help her down the rest of the way.

"More safely than you." She pretended to be indignant. "And someone moved our couch!"

"Damn." He grinned thinking of all the memories they had with that old piece of furniture. "It had to happen sometime...but they still aren't finished with this project?" Chase indicated the still deserted east wing inside the glass doors to their hideaway.

"I think they're just using it for storage now," she giggled. "It's been what, two years?"

"Hey, I'm not complaining. When that's done we might have to start using the door instead of climbing up and down, and that wouldn't be nearly as fun."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a ten-year-old."

"But you love me for it." He tossed his jacket next her, copying her strategy of using it as a cushion over the hard concrete, and slid down the wall to sit. Drooping an arm comfortable over her shoulder, he asked, "So? How was your first day back?" He felt her slight sigh.

"It was busy. The ER is so fast-paced, and I hate just deciding which department a patient should go to and sending them on their way. The only ones I even treat are the ones dying, fast."

"So you don't like the ER because you don't get to know the patients?" He paused, then grinned. "In that case, I know someone who's in the wrong specialty."

She smiled too, grateful he'd made such a casual reference to their old boss. He was bound to come up, and she knew it Chase was still sensitive about him. He did trust her and believed she really loved him, but there was always the memory of being what she settled for when she couldn't have House. They'd talked around, but not about, the subject when Cuddy offered them jobs back at PPTH. Cameron knew he was a little uncomfortable about her working so close to House again, and there would always be a part of her longing for the older doctor's approval in everything, but she'd grown up in the last months. She was happy with Chase, and she wanted him to know he wasn't her second choice.

"Did you see him today?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, but he didn't see me," Chase smirked. "I was observing a surgery that he barged into - probably saved the woman's life, of course. He was so wrapped up in it he didn't even notice me."

"I wonder if he has a new team yet," she mused.

"Doubt it! I can just picture Cuddy trying to convince him to interview all kinds of the 'best and the brightest,' fresh out of med school. And who the bloody hell would even consider staying after they met him? I think we are the only three people on earth with that weird strain of masochism."

She laughed. "There have to be other freaks out there."

"If he had a new team, he wouldn't need cases for months - he'd have three brand-new puzzles sitting right in front of him."

"True. He'd have go through it all again...making copies of their keys, guessing and deducing at their backgrounds till he hit on something, finding something embarrassing to constantly bring up with each of them."

"Don't forget nicknames! Coming up with something sufficiently mocking or derogatory for each would take at least a week, especially if he didn't have the racial aspect like with me and Foreman." They were both shaking with laughter now, and Chase commented, "It's funny how we're entertained by his insanity when we don't work for him anymore."

"That's probably why. I'd love to just observe the process of breaking in a new set of ducklings."

"I think I'd almost feel bad...like we should give them some kind of advice for dealing with him."

"Like anybody knows how to deal with him! Remember when we first got our fellowships? Wilson told us the only way of avoiding his abuse was to quit."

"And none of us did," Chase pointed out.

She paused, her mood suddenly more serious. "Sometimes I wonder if that was a mistake."

He glanced down at her, not sure what to make of her quiet admission. "You regret working for House?"

"No, I guess not. It made me a better doctor. What I regret is becoming so emotionally involved; letting him get to me like that."

"That's what he does, Ally." They sat in silence for a moment, then Chase ran his hand through her hair and titled her head so she looked up at him. "It's okay, you know. We can handle being here and still keep things from going back to how they used to be. Working for House didn't just make you a better doctor, it made you stronger. In the end, you knew when to stand up to him and get the hell out of there."

"It wasn't hard to know. You might have noticed I quit the day you left?" she teased.

"Of course, that's the other reason you can't regret taking the fellowship. Where else would you find a dreamy Australian doctor who's also madly in love with you?" Laughing, she leaned in to kiss him.

One more chapter coming soon. Reviews would be great!