[What's this? Chase is clutching a flier as he leans around the door, looking first at the pale figure in the bed, then at the woman beside it.
House got shot a few months ago. This might feel like weird deja-vu, but if the bastard can survive that, he'll make it through anything. This won't be what beats him.
As for what might beat Chase, however - the young doctor looks exhausted. He hasn't been sleeping right since his own attack, and going out to pick House up in the small hours of the morning hasn't exactly left him perky. He's fresh off a break right now, though, four hours sleep to top up his dwindling supply.]
[Cuddy looks up at Chase and smiles wanly. She hasn't yet lived through House being shot, and so this scares her. She's seen what people can do to one another -- she's stitched together the wounds -- but to have it happen to House... Wasn't what happened to Chase bad enough?]
A[He smiles back at her. If there's one thing doctors at his level are used to, it's a lack of sleep.]
More than I'd get in a full week on call.
[And he makes he way to the bedside, gamely disguising most of his limp to look down at House's charts and monitors. The flier slips from his grip onto Cuddy's lap.]
Cameron lives on her own.
[Just an observation. Admittedly not one he'd have made while he was still a regular visitor to his colleague's apartment.]
After losing as much blood as you did? That's not good enough. You should be resting.
[She idly glances at the flier as Chase mentions Cameron. The other doctor admittedly would not be her first choice of roommates, were they back home...but if they were back home, she wouldn't need a roommate.]
[He quietly ignores the order to rest. It's not like there's time for it, and if there were, it's not like he can. Best not to have to explain why -- he has the feeling Cuddy isn't going to be championing Eden's cause any time soon.]
I don't know about move, but she's got a room free. A nice one.
[He'd know, he wasn't allowed to stay in it when he first arrived in the city.]
[Cuddy doesn't particularly fancy the idea of moving -- Cat Chant and the other children live in her building, and she'd prefer to stay where she can keep an eye on them. But Chase doesn't need to know about that. Her desire to be a mother isn't something she's really ready to admit to anyone yet.]
[Actually they've been doing fine avoiding each other. Chase has tried to make radio contact once or twice, but with Cameron's break from work and several curses insistent on only making things worse, the frost hasn't melted yet.
He'll keep trying, even if he doesn't really know what to say.]
Did you talk at all about what happened? Between you two?
[Cuddy has never really involved herself in the lives of House's team members. As Dean of Medicine -- and House's boss -- she's had far more pressing concerns. But here, she can't help worrying just a bit. Jewish mother syndrome, if you will. Besides, they are her only links to home.]
[They haven't talked much about personal matters at all, and Cuddy knows little about him - as she might one day prove by warning Cameron he'd break her heart - but then that's the opinion most of his colleagues at Princeton Plainsboro hold of him. He's fine with that, he's nurtured it well.
Still, she didn't fire him when she should have, when that whole situation with Kayla blew up around him. She knows the lies he told and the truth of the situation. And he's got no doubt House mentioned what happened that one night Cameron was high as a kite.
So he leans on the end of the bed, nodding his willingness to talk, for the moment.]
[She knows about the one night stand, of course, and still marvels at the idiocy of otherwise extremely intelligent people. But what happened back home concerns her less than what happens here. Both for their sakes, and the sake of her hospital. A moment and she reminds herself that City General is not her hospital.]
[She has met males of her own species before? Idiocy when it comes to women is something hard wired. Look at House and Stacey. Chase drops his gaze to his feet, shoving both hands into his pockets.]
She doesn't want to talk about it. Not much I can say. I screwed up.
House got shot a few months ago. This might feel like weird deja-vu, but if the bastard can survive that, he'll make it through anything. This won't be what beats him.
As for what might beat Chase, however - the young doctor looks exhausted. He hasn't been sleeping right since his own attack, and going out to pick House up in the small hours of the morning hasn't exactly left him perky. He's fresh off a break right now, though, four hours sleep to top up his dwindling supply.]
How's he doing?
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He's stable. Sleeping.
[She looks at Chase with overt concern.]
You look like hell. Have you slept at all?
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More than I'd get in a full week on call.
[And he makes he way to the bedside, gamely disguising most of his limp to look down at House's charts and monitors. The flier slips from his grip onto Cuddy's lap.]
Cameron lives on her own.
[Just an observation. Admittedly not one he'd have made while he was still a regular visitor to his colleague's apartment.]
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[She idly glances at the flier as Chase mentions Cameron. The other doctor admittedly would not be her first choice of roommates, were they back home...but if they were back home, she wouldn't need a roommate.]
Is she looking to move?
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I don't know about move, but she's got a room free. A nice one.
[He'd know, he wasn't allowed to stay in it when he first arrived in the city.]
You should talk to her.
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Maybe I will.
[Time for a topic change!]
Have you spoken to her recently?
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He'll keep trying, even if he doesn't really know what to say.]
I called to tell her what happened.
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[Cuddy has never really involved herself in the lives of House's team members. As Dean of Medicine -- and House's boss -- she's had far more pressing concerns. But here, she can't help worrying just a bit. Jewish mother syndrome, if you will. Besides, they are her only links to home.]
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Still, she didn't fire him when she should have, when that whole situation with Kayla blew up around him. She knows the lies he told and the truth of the situation. And he's got no doubt House mentioned what happened that one night Cameron was high as a kite.
So he leans on the end of the bed, nodding his willingness to talk, for the moment.]
Here, or back home?
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[She knows about the one night stand, of course, and still marvels at the idiocy of otherwise extremely intelligent people. But what happened back home concerns her less than what happens here. Both for their sakes, and the sake of her hospital. A moment and she reminds herself that City General is not her hospital.]
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She doesn't want to talk about it. Not much I can say. I screwed up.
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[Cuddy's not one to mince words when people screw up. But there's something sympathetic in her candid agreement.]
I'm sure she'll come around. She just needs some time.
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I'm sure she'll learn to tolerate me. She's paid to.
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