This may be hard to believe, but this chapter is only a transition chapter. It was waaaay longer to write than I had thought it would be, that's why I didn't update yesterday…

Well, here you go!

Chapter Six

Call And Answer

You think I'm only here to witness
The remains of love exhumed
You think were here to play
A game of who loves more than whom

----

There was water running somewhere. Chase sat up quickly and noted House's absence: he was taking a shower. The Australian got up; shivering as the cold air hit his naked body, walked around the pile of clothes on the floor and went to the bathroom. The door wasn't locked so he opened it slowly. The warm air was a relief to him as he walked in, tiptoeing his way to the shower.

He stepped inside, pulling back the curtain and met House's surprised face. He took the shampoo bottle his boss had been holding and started to wash his hair too. "Good morning." He said, much more huskily then he'd intended to, but it made House smile. Chase rinsed his hair, and House moved in to kiss him, making the blond giggle; "You're going to get soap in your eyes…" He kissed him anyway and felt his employee smile.

Chase made waffles again that morning, much to House's content. Afterwards, they got dressed for work, Chase borrowed clothes from House, and they left. "Um, House? I'd rather we take the car today…" Chase said as his boss started towards the garage. He turned to him and shrugged. "Ok then." And they climbed into the car.

"Seven fifteen, Dr House and Dr Chase sign in." House said loudly to the nurse behind the counter. Right on cue, Wilson appeared, looking between curious and unnerved; looking from House to Chase. The oncologist led them to an empty exam room and there followed an uncomfortable silence. Wilson opened his mouth to speak once or twice, but kept closing it, scratching the back of his neck.

"Whatever it is you have to say to me, you're going to tell me. And Chase is staying." House told his friend callously. Wilson seemed to hesitate again, but he had no other choice.

"How was your day?" He asked House in particular, "did you… did it clarify… certain things that you… um…" he glanced at Chase nervously, "the things you told me you had certain concerns about…" Wilson finished lamely, as House smiled, clearly amused. "Everything is clear now." He said mysteriously. Wilson looked confused, then shocked. He nodded one last time and left hastily. House shot a pleased face at his employee as they came out of the exam room and walked to the conference room together.

Cameron and Foreman were searching through some files when they came in. "My, already at work I see! What're those?" House said, plainly to annoy Cameron, who looked up, annoyed; "Just because you round up six thirty to seven 'o clock, doesn't mean we're all procrastinators like you." She told him snappily before returning to her file. Foreman gave House an apologetic look; Cameron was obviously pissed about something.

House sent Chase to make coffee and sat down, pretending to read a file though it was upside-down: he was watching Chase. "What are you doing?" Cameron snapped, snatching the file from him, "either help us or not, but don't pretend to." Everyone looked at her in alarm. "You," House told her, "need coffee." He nodded to Chase who poured a third cup and brought it to the table, sitting down too.

Cameron put her head in her hands and sighed. "I don't need anything! Just leave me alone." She growled. "You're jealous." House stated. Chase hastily put his hand on House's forearm to stop him: "Don't push it." He warned his boss. The cripple bit his lip, torn between the desire to pick on Cameron and wanting to be nice to Chase. "Let me know when we have a case." House told them before going into his office, face stony.

"Why would I be jealous?" Cameron asked, more to herself than anyone else. Feeling uncomfortable, Chase decided not to say anything so he followed House into his office. "What was all that for? Why are you being so mean to Cameron –"

"Why did you stop me from telling her?" House shot back as he took a vicodin, wincing as he sat down. Chase crossed his arms, "Because it wouldn't be very nice to throw it in her face like that! She still likes you, you know?" Chase shouted at him, suddenly angry.

"What do you care? You're ashamed of me, admit it!" House shouted back, causing Chase to stare; "Is that what this is about…? I'm not ashamed House! I'm just concerned for Cameron. She doesn't look too good."

"So what? Let her deal with her problems! You got what you wanted didn't you? That is, getting in my pants!" House scoffed at him, practically shouting. Chase glowed at him and turned away; "Stop being such a cocky bastard and we'll talk." He said as he went back to the conference room and sat down. Upon entering, he noticed immediately that something was going on: Cameron and Foreman were both staring at him. "What?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

"You slept with House?" Foreman asked him, not looking at all disgusted; only surprised. "What kind of question is that? Of course not –"

"Chase, it's not that we were eavesdropping, it's just that it was hard not to hear when the walls are made of glass and you two are shouting like that." He apologetically told the Australian, who stared back at him, bewildered. "I…" he thought of what House had told him just now, "I, yeah okay. I slept with House." Chase admitted, deciding he couldn't do anything to try and undo what had been done. They would have found out one day or another anyway.

"So what's it like?" Foreman asked, jokingly, but still curious. Chase glared at him, not amused. Cameron remained speechless, avoiding his gaze. "But… Saturday you said you weren't with House…" She finally said, slowly, sounding as though she had a headache. Chase smirked; "I wasn't with him Saturday. We hung out yesterday and…" He left his sentence unfinished; he couldn't find the words to say. Cameron seemed to understand because she nodded silently.

The three continued to read through their stack of files when Cameron hummed, stood up and went to see House. A few moments later, they came into the room, House reading the file carefully. "I have to see Cuddy…" He announced before leaving with the file and a bunch of envelopes in his hand.

----

House returned with the file a little while after and gestured for his ducklings to follow him. Chase took the file and walked away from House, letting Foreman walk beside the boss. House took notice of this sudden resilience but didn't say anything. Yet.

Chase was reading the file while everyone pitched ideas and, in the end, House told them to do an MRI, and look for anything else that could lead to their patient's current situation just as they got to the patient's room.

Cameron and Foreman went into the room immediately, while Chase hung back, looking at House defiantly. However, a man in a suit was waiting for him outside the room and House walked away to talk with him, without a second glance at Chase. The Australian felt a pinch in his gut and went join his colleagues.

House walked with the man, listening to his story about him being their patient's lawyer. "His name's Joey, he's my only brother." The man, Bill said. "He's important to you." House stated, pressing on the elevator button and glancing at him, "Got it. So no placebos on him – we'll use the real medicine." The elevator rang and he got on, the lawyer following close behind, looking disgruntled. "So just Joey's in the mafia?" House went on as the door closed, "I was hoping for a nickname. Joey Mango… Joey the Wrench…"

The lawyer punched the stop button and the elevator came to a halt. "People know where I am." House told him coolly. Bill turned to him; "I want you to do your job," he said with remarkable calmness, "Diagnose him, fix him, and keep him here." House bit his lip slowly; "we're a specialized hospital… you see, we generally only treat people when they're actually sick." Bill sighed angrily. "If you release my brother, and he does what the government wants, even if you fix him he's dead. I need time to convince him of that."

House thought around for a second, and nodded. Bill put the elevator back in motion and they were silent. The atmosphere was very tense until Bill spoke again. "Good news is, if you screw up you don't have to worry about a malpractice suit. Instead, one by one, I'll take away the things you love 'till there's nothing left." The lawyer told him very seriously, though a smirk had appeared at the corner of him mouth. House made a slightly disturbed face as he stepped off the elevator when it opened, saying; "So, about that mafia thing… it's a yes?"

----

"Chase." House called, as he entered the patient's room, though he stayed halfway in the doorway. The blond turned around with a 'what do you want now?' face, but House just signaled for him to follow with a nod of the head. Chase sighed, exchanging glances with his colleagues, and hurried after his boss. He followed him all the way to an empty classroom that served for the interns. House closed the door and looked around at the room; "You wanted to talk? Before I left with the patient's brother, didn't you have something to say to me?"

Chase didn't speak for a moment, considering the fact that, actually, House had noticed it when he'd hung back to talk to him… "Um yeah… I told Cameron and Foreman." He saw House raise his eyebrows. "And?"

"Well, nothing much… Cameron wanted to know since when we were together, and Foreman… made a rather inappropriate comment." House frowned, and Chase corrected: "Actually he just asked what it was like to sleep with you. But I think he was kidding." House grunted with a nod. "Right… Anything else?" Chase shook his head.

"No." House turned to leave, but Chase called out; "In fact, yes, there's something else. Tell me how you feel. I'm always the one who jumps in with the feelings and stuff… What about you?" House stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

"I… can't say for sure, Chase. I like spending time with you, honest, but… I don't know if I can sincerely say I love you back." As soon as he'd done talking, the cripple felt a pair of arms surround him by behind; "That's okay. I understand. Like I said before, take your time…" Chase told him, hugging him tight; "I just wanted to know what it means to you… What happened yesterday, this morning…"

House turned around and ruffled Chaise's hair. "I'm going to be really honest with you, it doesn't mean much right now."

Chase nodded. "I can wait. I only want to appreciate what I have at the moment for now." House smiled on of the rare true smiles Chase had ever seen from him, and their hug suddenly turned into something else as they crashed their mouths together for another one of those innumerable kisses since yesterday.

----

House entered the test lab, straitening his clothes – Chase had been quite rough… He saw Cameron looking uncomfortable while Foreman was looking at her sneakily. He vaguely wondered what that was about, but remembered his promise to Chase on not picking on Cameron. Instead, he walked around the room, looking at their test result files and stuff, distractedly thinking of Chase. Cameron answered his questions about their patient being a smoker but looked super-nervous when he came close to her.

House took note of it, but walked away without mentioning anything.

He was intercepted while he was coming out of his office for at lunch time by Chase. They met in the doorway, both stopping abruptly. "Um… want to have lunch with me?" Chase asked him with a fake kind of bravery in his voice – he was looking apprehensive. House smiled; "No, I told Wilson I'd eat with him. See you later." And the older man dodged Chase and walked away. He didn't look back at him so he could only imagine the look of disappointment he knew had appeared on the Aussie's face.

Wilson didn't look up from his computer as he entered. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he continued to type down whatever unimportant thing he was doing. Of course House had been lying to Chase, he hadn't actually promised Wilson to meet him. He opened his mouth to speak but was annoyed by his friend's lack of interest, so he bent down and unplugged the laptop.

"Hey! That was an important tax docu –" Wilson complained loudly.

"Oh shut up, I know how maniacal you are with your 'important documents': you save every three seconds. I came here to have a conversation with you – something you seem to have forgotten the meaning of." House told him superiorly.

"What are you talking about? God, do you listen to yourself talk sometimes, I swear to you –"

"This morning! Did you listen to yourself speaking; or rather, attempting to speak." House cut him off again, amused by his friend's discomfort. Wilson scratched his head; "Look, I wanted to ask what you did with Chase… That's all." House smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought I heard through all the spluttering."

"Oh will you stop it! Listen… Don't you understand how weird this is? You and… Chase! Seriously, that's the last thing I would have imagined!" House nodded; "It's still a little weird to me you know? But of course, I know what you and Cuddy are saying behind my back: O-M-GEEE House is molesting poor little inoffensive Chase!" House finished by crudely imitating Cuddy's voice.

"We're not –," the oncologist stopped at the look House gave him and rearticulated, "Okay, we did have some concerns at first, I'll admit that. But we decided to let it go on for a while and see what happened."

"Okay, first, I am not molesting Chase, if that's really what you thought. Second, you and Cuddy have no power over who I date, therefore, that fact that you decided to let it go on means nothing." House said seriously. Wilson gaped at him; "You said 'date'… You have feelings for him!"

House looked horrified at himself: "I do not! I…" He closed his eyes and growled; "I just don't know anymore Wilson. What should I do?" He said, popping a vicodin. Wilson smiled comfortingly; "You should listen to your heart more House. I'm not inside you; I can't know what you truly feel like." House nodded slightly. "You know I'm bad at that. I can't even understand what Chase feels like about this, how'd you want me to know how I feel?"

"You should tell Chase about this. He'll help you, if he really has feelings for you." There was a silence as House recalled memories of last night; "He said he did. I mean, he plainly said," House made a tiny gulp, "I love you." Wilson smiled, "Well, I think that's good. But I can't say anything more really… You have to do the rest on your own." House sighed and stood up, looking at his friend one last time before he left with a look that meant 'thank you', even if he was incapable of saying it.

----

House was leaving the hospital when he heard steps behind him. "Hey!" And Wilson walked up next to him. He continued to walk but stopped suddenly.

"My car's been stolen." He said, looking around. Wilson looked at House's parking space and walked up to the red car that was suddenly parked there. "Or… reincarnated…" The oncologist said as he noticed a paper on the windshield. He took it and read; "Pink slip – a gift from the Arnello brothers…" The two stared at each other and started to walk around the car in awe.

"You know… they're gangsters, sure. But they're thoughtful too!" House said, smiling slightly. Wilson shook his head, "You… can't possible… keep it?" This make House smirk even more; "Yeah, right… what do you think a guy like Joey would do if someone turned down a gift? That's… kind of an insult!" House said, sounding as if he were reasoning but there was no question that he wanted to keep the car. "He might hurt you." Wilson said, smiling now, too, "It's definitely possible." House shrugged: "I'm screwed! Gotta take the car!" He said, as if it were the worst thing ever. The two laughed, but lost no time in seating themselves comfortable inside it.

----

"Hi Cameron." Chase said as he came into the conference room. She was reading a book so she didn't look up immediately. Before he had the chance to see what she was reading, she quickly threw the it in her purse and looked at him pleasantly, albeit a little flushed in the face; "Hi. You're still here?" She checked her watch, "Foreman left already and –"

"I'm looking for House." Chase told her, looking around through the glass door that led to their boss's office, but there was no one there and the lights were out. Cameron stared; "Oh. I'm sorry, I saw him leave with Wilson… about half an hour ago." Chase stopped. "What?! But… what a bastard!" He grumbled, sitting down with a heavy sigh. Cameron put a hand on his shoulder; "What's wrong? You didn't have a fight did you?" Chase shook his head.

"No, nothing like that – it's just that I came in with him this morning, so now I don't have ride. I guess I'll have to call him, don't know if he'll come get me though, stupid prick…" He said, restlessly passing his fingers through his hair. He caught a whiff of House's coconut scented shampoo, which only made him even more bitter as he thought of his boss in the shower… he shook his head and took out his cell phone when he heard Cameron say rather softly; "I can give you a ride."

Chase stared. "You… you don't have to! I mean, I don't want to bother you, if you live on the other side of town or something…"

"Oh no no no! It's perfectly okay!" She assured him, looking awkward. Chase shrugged, "Okay then, if it's okay. Thanks." He said gratefully, storing his phone away as they got up and left the room, locking the doors on their way out.

It was tense walking alone with Cameron at this hour in the PPTH because there was nearly nobody around. They got to Cameron's car in silence; the only thing Chase said as they entered her car was his address. Cameron was silent too all the way through the ride. When they got to Chase's apartment, the Australian thanked her and was about to leave when he said; "Do you want to come in? For something to drink I mean, you know…" He didn't know what had made him say that and he regretted it instantly, but Cameron smiled slightly. "Okay, sure. I've got nothing to do anyway."

So here they were in Chase's apartment. He awkwardly asked what she wanted to drink and she took plain water. He had a lump in his throat because he was pissed at House, but worried at his boss's reasons for leaving without him so he made himself a glass of water too. They sat on his couch, the very same couch where Chase had admitted his feelings last night – okay, this was getting annoying: why did everything he do remind him of House? Cameron coughed.

"I wanted to talk to you about House…" She said slowly. Chase invited her to go on by nodding with interest, so she did; "He probably told you that… that I, well…"

"That you like him." Chase finished for her. She looked at him with a sad look; "Yeah. So, I want to apologize for today. I may have seemed a little angry or even jealous; which was stupid. I think that… you belong with House. You just seem to fit so well." Cameron told him gently; Chase could clearly see she was truly sincere. Her words were really coming from her heart. "Thanks." Was all he could say to her. She appeared to have understood because she smiled at him, this time looking much happier.

"Reconciliation hug?" Chase invited with a grin, making Cameron laugh. She hugged him close, and they were suddenly less awkward, as if this had sealed their implicit friendship somehow.

Before they knew it, they were acting like old friends: sprawled on the sofa with popcorn, watching TV and laughing. They talked a lot about various things and found many common interests. They eventually fell asleep on the couch while watching Seinfeld re-runs.

----

There was a heavy knock on the door, making Chase jump. Everything was still dark and the lights coming from the flashing TV screen made his eyes water in pain. He reached for the lamp and a warm yellow light flooded the room. Cameron was sound asleep on the opposite couch, their unfinished fifth bowl of popcorn cradled in her arms.

Another booming knock sounded through the apartment. Chase checked his watch and frowned: who came to visit him at five thirty in the morning? He got up and groggily made his way to the door, opening it and finding his mouth rather invaded. He recognized House by smell and was forced to back away as his boss pressed onto him, closing the apartment door with one hand, grasping the front of Chase's shirt with his other.

As Chase backed away, he crashed into a small foot-cushion and they fell to the floor. They didn't stop making out however, House pressed further on and Chase happily complied to his unspoken desires by slipping off his boss's belt, throwing it across the floor and unzipping House's jeans.

They broke apart to breathe hastily, only to continue with renewed vigor. Chase knew he should have stopped to inquire about House's reasons for leaving without him last night but damn, House just felt so good… He was quickly lost in the enthrallment of it all when he heard a gasp. Fuck: Cameron!!!

They stopped kissing and turned to look at her. The whole scene froze, House on top of Chase, his jeans forgotten somewhere on the floor next to him, currently undoing the Aussie's pants and Cameron sitting on the couch, staring at them. House cleared his throat; "This would be a good time for someone to say something ingeniously funny." He stated. Chase groaned and slapped his forehead, rubbing his eyes in embarrassment as Cameron gave a nervous laugh.

House got up importantly and picked his pants up, looking totally unfazed as if this were the most normal situation he'd ever been in. Chase got up and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, looking at the TV, as if it was going to tell him what to say. Cameron placed the popcorn bowl on the table and made to stand up, though she finally remained seated, as if she couldn't decide what she was supposed to do. House grinned mischievously; "If you thought that was hot, wait 'till you see the rest!" He pinched Chase's side, making the blond squirm.

"House, you're not helping!" He told him angrily, before looking at Cameron shakily; "I'm sorry, I kind of forgot you were there and…" He stopped talking there, realizing how lame it sounded.

"What were you doing here anyway?" House asked Cameron before she could say anything in response to Chase. When no one answered, House snickered: "Aw, you had a pajama party without me?!" Chase groaned again, "Shut up House." Cameron sighed softly; "I should go home and get ready for work…" She said, getting up at last. Oh right, work was in less then two hours… Chase sighed interiorly; where had his night gone? He had barely slept five hours.

"Sure you don't want to join us?" House asked teasingly, and Cameron blushed slightly. Chase hit him on the arm. Cameron didn't reply, but said; "Bye Chase, thanks again and um… see you later…" rather happily as she left, though she looked disturbed.

Chase rounded on House as soon as the door closed; "What the hell, House!" He shouted. But his boss merely gave a feeble laugh. … Something was up. That's when he noticed the taste in his mouth – beer.

"You're drunk." He told him disappointedly.

"Am not!" House protested, "I was, but now I'm fine. See?" He took a vicodin, threw it in the air and caught it in his mouth. Chase sighed, before realizing; "Did you drive here?!"

"Of course not, I'm not that stupid – I asked Wilson – hang on, I am stupid!" He exclaimed quite, well, stupidly. "Wilson took my car!"

"So what?" Chase asked. House shook his head; "Never mind… Okay, I'll admit I had a few beers with Wilson. We talked about you and he made me feel bad for leaving you at the hospital, so we went back, but you weren't there. We supposed you'd gotten home by your own means so we drove here."

"There are two things wrong with your story. One, why did you go back to the hospital? Obviously I wouldn't have stalled around until four in the morning just because you didn't take me home, and secondly, didn't you notice Cameron's car outside?" Chase said, suspicious. House growled faintly.

"Okay you win: I'm drunk. And I get stupid when I'm drunk." Chase nodded; "You can't be that drunk if you know you're drunk. But anyway, we should get ready for work. Maybe we'll get there on time today…" House groaned; "I don't wanna go to work." He said, sounding like a little boy who's arguing with his mother about not wanting to go to school.

"How about we take a shower, that'll wake you up." Chase suggested, making House grin.

----

After a hot shower (A/N: get it? Ha ha…), they got dressed. House looked through Chase's clothes.

"Your clothes are actually not that bad," he stated, "It's just the way you mix them together that's horrible." With that, he helped his wombat choose things that went together more than the things he usually wore, and they were off, after coffee.

They signed into PPTH together for the third time now, and went to the conference room. As House had thought, they were the first to arrive. So they made good use of their time, to put it in Chase's words, and looked at their current patient's condition together.

The other two ducklings arrived shortly, Cameron was still a little troubled, and the atmosphere in the room was edgy as they made their differential. Foreman was clueless of course, so he was the one to come up with the most ideas, being the only one safe from thoughts unrelated to medicine.

As they left the room to examine the patient, Chase was thinking this was going to be a long day. He was already feeling worn out and wanted nothing more than to sleep. But as soon as they were away from House, he and Cameron put any thoughts of this morning away and acted rather more friendlily than usual to each other. If Foreman noticed, he didn't care because he was as concentrated on his work as always.

----

They finally solved their patient, treating him for Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency, and Hepatitis C. Everything was going fine that day; they had just released their patient and they had all finished their (House's) clinic duty. That is until House limped into the room with a red file in his hand.

"Already a new patient?" Foreman exclaimed, clearly tired from the day too.

House went to the board and turned to face his duckies; "Yes. But before that, I have an announcement to make." Everyone was silent – House looked dead serious.

"I've been told," He said, "that I have to get rid of one of you by the end of the week."

Nobody moved or made a sound until House placed the file on the table.

Foreman and Cameron turned to look at each other, then at Chase.

The situation was clear; they thought Chase was safe because he was sleeping with House.

This was not looking good.