Fic: Palliation, House/Chase, PG-13

Title: Palliation
Fandom: House
Pairing: House/Chase
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Chase finds out about his father.
Note: Palliation - the act of reducing something unpleasant.



House was muttering something about CT scans and incompetent lab techs to Foreman, who was rolling his eyes, but Chase wasn’t really listening. Their latest case was unravelling before them – one false move and the patients father, a high profile Wall Street banker, was going to take them all to court. But his attention had wandered away from the two doctors as they argued to the television at the side of Wilson’s office where they had had to traipse to find House.

It was switched to CNN, which meant that Wilson and not House had been watching it when he had no doubt barged in, telling Wilson he was about to get sued, (or that General Hospital was about to start). A name scrolling across the bottom had caught Chase’s eye and he waited for it to roll around again to be sure, hardly daring to breathe or move lest House see what he was doing.

And then there it was.

Chase’s chest constricted but he still managed to walk over to House and take the remote control out of his hand, causing House’s eyes to widen comically. Chase didn’t say a word but stood in front of the tv and put the sound on.

“And we’re now reporting on the death of Dr Rowan Chase, world-renowned Rheumatologist. Dr Chase, currently living in Melbourne, Australia, lost his fight with cancer in the early hours of this morning. He is survived by one son, Robert, who...”

Chase sank down slowly on a chair that Foreman pushed towards him. He daren't look at anyone just yet, especially not Cameron; he was no expert but crying in front of your boss, especially if that boss is House, was probably not a good career move.

“I didn’t know your dad had cancer,” Foreman commented after a moment of silence.

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us.” Chase was impressed how little bitterness came through.

Cameron gasped. “But...” Damn it.

“How long did you give him?” Chase asked, eyes slanting over to Wilson and House and then back to the tv screen. He could have sworn he saw a flicker of concern dance across House’s face – probably for Wilson.

“Three months.”

“You knew?” Cameron asked. Wilson nodded.

“So that’s why he was here before,” Foreman added and Chase tired to concentrate on breathing and not registering the sympathetic glances the others were throwing his way. Poor little rich boy, all alone in the world.

Chase was startled when his phone began to ring and he was conscious that all eyes were on him as he checked the caller id, took a fortifying breath, and answered.

“Michael.” He sighed. “Yes, I know...CNN...yeah. What?...I’ll get the next flight out...of course...I...I don’t know. For God’s sake the man’s not even cold yet...when?...fine.” He hung up. “So,” he turned towards House, “I’m going to be needing some time off.”

House nodded. “Take what you need.” He almost sounded like he meant it.

“Right. Well I’ll...I’ll get going.” He stood up on shaky feet, returned the remote control to Wilson’s desk and started to leave.

“Will you be coming back?” House asked. Chase paused at the threshold but walked through the doors rather than reply. He was aware of movement behind him but kept his face impassive, focusing on placing one foot in front of the other.

“Do you need a lift?” Foreman asked, Cameron right behind him.

“No, I’m...okay, yeah, that would be good.”

“Don’t you two have a lab report to finish?” House called after them, causing quite a few heads in the corridor to turn. Cameron looked like she was about to crumble.

“We can’t do anything till Cuddy gives the go ahead,” Foreman reminded her.

“Look, you know what, I’ll be fine. Go ahead and run the tests,” Chase said.

“There are other patients in the hospital,” House told them, as he marched over to where they had stopped, cane clicking on the floor. “Unless of course you’d feel more comfortable playing chauffeur?” he asked Foreman, who's first response was a pointed glare.

“Fine. I’ll go see about the CT. You ok?”

Chase nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Cameron hovered for a moment.

“If you need anything...”

“Don’t you have clinic now?” House demanded.

“No, I...”

“Well go cover mine, then.”

Cameron sighed then walked away. Chase turned around and began to head for the main doors once again, anxious to get some fresh air. House stayed right with him and Chase grimaced.

“What do you want?” he snapped.

House raised an eyebrow. “What, I’m not allowed to show concern, now?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes.

“Spare me.”

Chase leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath. If he tried to walk any further he thought it would be a battle between falling over or vomiting, neither of which seemed like a good prospect considering his audience.

House stared at him as if he were slowly and painfully peeling away the layers. Any time now and there wouldn’t be anything of him left.

“You were going to tell me,” he said, hoping to distract the other man.

“You said you didn’t care.”

Chase turned to look House full in the face. “I lied.”

After a moment, “...I know.”

Chase turned away then, hating the fact that it was now, because of his father that House was looking at him like that, as if, God help them all, he cared. Why couldn’t he have stayed out of it in the first place? Now all the memories of his father would be mingled with those of House, and that desperate longing he had for him, for anyone, to hold him and tell him it was going to be all right. But he hadn’t had that even when his mother was alive, and probably not really then. He was on his own more than ever.

“I need to get home and pack,” he said.

“Will you be coming back?” House asked, a softer edge to the question than had been evident earlier.

Chase hesitated. “Where else would I go?”

“You’re head of the family now. Surely there’s some foundation you can run, money to dole out, finally give up medicine...”

“Why would I do that?”

“Why would you not?”

Chase frowned. Why could House never ask a simple question? “Do you want me to stay away?”

“I didn’t fire you after Vogler, why would I fire you because your father died?”

“You only hired me because he told you to.”

“No, I hired you because he asked me not to.” Chase took a moment to work that out.

“What?”

“I said he called me, I didn’t say he wanted you to have the job. He didn’t. Was quite adamant about it. I was...intrigued.”

“You’re never happier than when you’re torturing people, are you?”

“You’d know more about that than me.”

Chase glared at him. “Piss off.” Chase stormed off, deciding it would be easier just to walk back to his apartment. He could hear House tapping after him.

“Very mature.”

“Fine,” Chase said, spinning around on his heels. “Fuck off and take your job with you.” Chase would have laughed at the look of shock on House’s face if he didn’t want so desperately to take back the words.

House’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t mean that.”

“Bloody hell, House, just leave me alone.” This time as he stormed off his shadow stayed where he was.

======================

It took a moment for Chase to realise that the continuous knocking wasn’t inside his skull but was actually coming from his front door. There was a reason he didn’t drink, and this was it – two glasses of whiskey and he felt like death. Though it didn’t help that he hadn’t eaten anything since that morning. He gingerly manoeuvred himself around his bag on the floor (all packed save a toothbrush) and leaned against the door for a moment. The banging didn’t miss a beat and he wondered idly how long it would take before his neighbours called the police. Exasperatedly he opened the door, only to find House glaring at him.

“Are you going to invite me in?”

“No.” But House had already pushed his way passed and Chase had no real energy to stop him.

“Hmm, nice place, little more spartan than I would have given you credit for.”

“Did you come here for a reason or just to criticise my decor?”

“Can’t I do both?”

Chase slumped down in a chair. He knew very well that House would get to the point in his own sweet time.

“You haven’t left yet.”

“If I had there wouldn’t have been much point in you hammering at my door.”

“True.”

House looked around the room, taking in the whiskey bottle, the large landscape of Melbourne, the medical textbooks stuffed in the bookcase between a guide book of New Jersey and a Czech phrase book. There must be some internal order to Chase’s books that House was unaware of.

“What do you want?”

“I came to see if you needed a lift to the airport.”

“I’ve ordered a taxi.”

“I know, it was downstairs; I sent it away.”

Chase saw red. “For God’s sake can’t you stop interfering in my life for one minute?”

House raised an eyebrow. “I’m showing compassion. I would have thought you were familiar with that concept.”

Chase snorted. “Bite me.”

“Only if you ask nicely.”

Chase glared at him. “Leave me alone.”

House pouted. “You don’t mean that.”

“Did you come all this way just to sexually harass me?”

“It’s not sexual harassment since you no longer work for me.”

“What?”

“You quit earlier remember. Cuddy’s already setting me up with some interviews.”

“But I didn’t...”

“...mean it?” House glared at him and Chase found his face flushing ever so slightly despite his best efforts.

“Fine. So I no longer work for you.” And damn it but he was getting choked up. His father dead and he hadn’t yet shed a tear but the idea of not seeing House each day... He turned away from the other man and started fastening up his bag. House watched him in silence.

“You can leave now.”

“Even if you called another taxi you won’t get there in time. Not with the traffic at this time of night.”

“How do you know when my flight is?” he asked, checking that he had his ticket.

“There’s only so many flights to Australia, it’s not hard to work out.”

“Seems to be a lot of effort – want to make sure that I leave?”

“I want to make sure you come back.” And he held up a return ticket to replace the single in Chase’s hand.

“You bought me a ticket?”

“Well, I figure you’re good for it.”

“Why are you doing this?”

House’s face registered so many emotions in the few moments it took him to answer that Chase began to feel dizzy.

“I wouldn’t have hired you, or Cameron, or Foreman, if you weren’t good at your jobs. I’d never be able to focus on the personal if the professional got in the way.”

“Heaven forbid,” Chase muttered, still warily staring at the ticket. “I thought I quit.”

“I may have misheard.” He held out the ticket. “Take it.”

“Is this coming out of my wages?”

“Yes...No.”

Chase took it and let his single ticket drop to the floor. House startled him by catching hold of one wrist and pulling him closer, so that Chase was looking up at the other man, balancing precariously on the balls of his feet.

“Say you’re staying.”

Chase looked into those blue eyes, felt the heat settling in his stomach, House’s warm breath against his cheek and jumped. “Make me.”

House’s lips curled up into the faintest of smiles before he was everywhere, hands on Chase’s hips pushing him down, tongue in his mouth, good leg settling against him while he tried not to wince as he jarred the other one. Chase responded as best he could, hand reaching out to cup House’s face in a gesture he hoped wouldn’t send House hobbling away. House stiffened and then pulled away, but softly, so as not to worry the other man.

“Well?” House asked.

“Well...what?”

House growled.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming back,” Chase smiled, though his features clouded at the thought that perhaps this was all some game to humiliate him and when he came back he’d find that Cuddy really had got interviews lined up. House scrutinised his face, wondering whether or not he should put him out of his misery, and deciding that not was so much more fun.

“If we don’t leave now you’ll never make it.”

“Not as if he’ll notice,” Chase muttered under his breath, but he did as he was told, picking up his bag and dutifully following House out to the car. He had a feeling this wouldn't be the only leap of faith he'd have to make where House was concerned. But as the other man turned to him, with a smile which reached his eyes, Chase vowed that this would be one test that he would pass.