Fic: Not Entirely Human Error, Mach 4
OK, I haven't posted in more than a month, but RL is such a bitch that I've decided to write fics rather than do what I'm 'supposed' to. Anyway, I've linked to my previous chapters under the cut since it's been a while. At least Part 4 is not very angsty, and House is back in all his nefarious glory.
TITLE: Not Entirely Human Error - Part 4
AUTHOR: parkermonster
PAIRING: It’s starting to sort itself out, finally
RATING: PG-13 so far
NOTES: Spoilers for Human Error, and everything that leads up to that
SUMMARY: Chase is at loose ends, and maybe it will turn out to be a good thing, in more ways than one.
DISCLAIMER: I’ve reproduced dialogue from the show during the bar scene, with just a few embellishments of my own. If you’re reading this, you watch the show. If you watch the show, you know which parts are not mine. So, Show Writers, some of the credit and ALL of the profits go to you.
In case you've forgotten the story so far (or care, for that matter):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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Part 4
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Chase collapsed onto his sofa and cringed as his back complained. His apartment had never been so clean and organized - if he didn’t stop now, he’d be alphabetizing his medical books and lining up his (only slightly chewed) pencils in straight rows. Hell, he could hardly recognize the place already. He realized that he was incredibly hungry, and since the cupboard was pretty much bare, that meant a trip out, preferably for something nutritionally indefensible. He decided to head over to Gene’s - he frequently ate there after shift with Cameron and Foreman, since it was convenient to the hospital. Nice and dark, big sandwiches, no need to talk to anyone - just right. The other Fellows were probably in for a long night at the hospital, as usual, so he wasn’t likely to run into them.
Sounded like a plan.
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As she touched up her makeup in the locker room, Cameron was still appalled about what happened to Chase. How could House just up and fire him like that? She had told Foreman that House always made sense, but she wasn’t too sure right now. Whatever else he might be, Chase was a good doctor, and if she was honest with herself, a better diagnostician than she was. Mind you, he never got any observable credit for it from House, but House had to have noticed.
Of course, they’d all had their personal differences with Chase at work. She had been angry when she found out later he had ratted out House to Vogler to save his job (and therefore endanger hers). At least, she assumed that was his reason - he had ducked questions about it more than once. House had made Chase pay ten times over for that betrayal, though, and surely House couldn’t still be angry about it. Although, maybe he could - she herself still made the occasional barbed comment based on Chase’s actions at the time. She trusted him as a doctor, but not entirely with job issues.
Outside of work, though, Chase was never anything but sweet and considerate with her, which had surprised her in the beginning. She’d had him pegged as a complete opportunist, but he wasn’t as eager to take advantage of her offer of unattached sex as she’d expected. He’d pretty much allowed her to take the lead in planning their sexual encounters, although his participation had been enthusiastic once they got started. She had to admit she missed his touch - he was a generous lover and more of a snuggler than one would expect with their ‘arrangement’. Maybe that should have set off alarms from the beginning, but she truly hadn’t expected him to become emotionally involved and screw things up. After all, he was the one who compared himself to ‘microwave pizza’. She thought he understood his place, but apparently not. She was unhappy and a bit angry about having to end their arrangement, but she really didn’t have any desire to lead Chase on. His declarations of ‘like’ indicated that his heart wasn’t exactly broken yet, anyway. Admittedly, she was flattered by his Tuesday attention, but life seemed too complicated right now to deal with it at face value. It had really become a bit of a game, at this point.
Chase seemed to have taken her lack of emotional involvement in their relationship as an indication that she was still infatuated with House, maybe even trying to make the boss jealous. Well, she was over that now. Over the past couple of years, she realized that House was not that cliché ‘gruff but loveable’ guy she had envisioned. She had watched him interact with Stacy; he obviously cared for her - maybe even still loved her - but that didn’t stop him from playing her when it suited his purposes. Cameron had also witnessed several of their loud arguments, and trading sarcastic insults with her partner didn’t fit into her vision of ‘true love’. Oh, House was damaged, all right, but he didn’t want to be fixed, and she had slowly conceded that she couldn’t make it happen entirely on her own. The man seemed perfectly content with his ability to be truly hurtful sometimes, and Chase’s firing was just one more example. There might be a rational reason for it, but House couldn’t be bothered to communicate that with anyone. If he made Chase feel like shit in the process… well, House really didn’t care.
In any case, Cameron couldn’t let things with Chase end this way, with no goodbye. It would be just like him to disappear into the wind. He had a knack for avoiding emotional scenes. Rather than telling her and Foreman about his father’s death, he had left an obituary on the table in the conference room when he left for his suspension. They had been shocked to see the long-ago date on it. Foreman felt that if Chase wanted to avoid a discussion that badly, they should just let it pass without comment. She wondered if Foreman had even made the connection between the date of Rowan’s passing and the mistake with Kayla. When Chase had returned to work, she had tried to offer her condolences, but Chase had instantly concocted urgent business in the ICU and fled. If he didn’t care, she saw no reason to concern herself about it either.
She wondered what Chase’s plans would be. He didn’t seem to have a lot of ties to either Australia or New Jersey, so he could end up anywhere. She wasn’t sure why that disturbed her, although she would obviously miss him. It wasn’t like she felt that much for him…
Well, maybe they could have one for the road. She decided to stop by Gene’s before the apartment - Chase loved comfort food when he was depressed. She smiled at the thought. Chase was usually one of the healthiest eaters she knew, except for the occasional candy. Even then, he would brush his teeth as soon as possible; sometimes right at the conference room sink if he was pressed for time. House always gave him hell for that, and Chase kept his toothpaste and brush locked up and hidden in a drawer in case House decided to tamper with his supplies. House would probably do it, too, given a chance.
On a whim, she decided to add lipstick to the fresh outfit. House would notice and probably comment, but she right now didn’t care. She was so over him.
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Lipstick? House thought with more than a trace of resentment as his Fellows left. Who is she kidding? Why doesn’t she just kick Chase in the balls on her way to the prom?
House was quite aware of how Cameron had treated Chase lately. Despite what people who didn’t know him might think, he was actually fully tuned in to hospital gossip. Maybe none of the staff or doctors would talk to him directly, but everyone cheerfully confided in Wilson. If House pretended to whine long enough, he could eventually annoy his friendinto repeating the latest rumors. It didn’t take close observation to conclude that the stories about the circumstances of Cameron and Chase’s break-up were true.
House smirked. Chase is a bigger fool than I thought if he’s still pursuing Cameron - doesn’t he get tired of being jerked around? Of course, that’s a quality I’ve put to use on a few occasions myself. Might come in handy in the future, too.
He had been amused when he first realized that Chase and Cameron were doing the nasty. He had set them up for the supply closet incident; this was something he had to see for himself. He had waited just long enough for the situation to become mildly compromising, but not long enough to risk a sight that would burn his eyes. A Kodak moment of Chase and Cameron having sex was just not something he wanted to experience, despite the blackmail potential.
His timing had been impeccable. Chase looked pretty damn good shirtless, and Cameron was still dressed. He really hadn’t been interested in seeing the reverse. Cameron just didn’t do it for him - as he had said before, he could’ve hit that, but he hadn’t bothered. Women like Stacy or Cuddy - he could deal with them straight on, knowing that they could defend themselves. Someone like Cameron he could chew up and spit out with ease. For him, it was all about the challenge, and Cameron was no challenge at all.
In any case, if she had been infatuated with House for so long, he had to seriously question her taste in men. Dumping Chase the way she had was the final piece of that puzzle for House. She’d been treating Chase like shit for weeks now, apparently for the heinous sin of actually caring about her. The only up-side to the situation that House could see was that Chase’s continued interest in Cameron had kept him at PPTH longer than House expected.
He had to agree with Wilson that punching Chase hadn’t been his slickest management move. He had been a bit shocked the next day when he saw how bruised Chase’s jaw was. He knew that several of the staff witnesses had encouraged Chase to file charges against House for assault, and when that didn’t happen, House had wondered if Chase just didn’t have the balls for it. But then something odd happened; Chase began to exhibit much more self-confidence than before the incident. It became clear that Chase was finally unraveling House’s behavior and occasionally even getting a step ahead of him. That alone intrigued House immensely - the idea that Chase might begin to understand him better than he understood Chase. That just wouldn’t do; he needed more Chase-data to get ahead in this contest. Several weeks ago he had begun to develop his master plan for Chase’s future, and it was now time to unleash it.
No, Cameron was definitely not right for Chase. She didn’t seem to appreciate, or even know, what she had. Chase deserved better, and House definitely had someone in mind.
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Chase was enjoying his sandwich when he noticed Cameron sliding into the seat beside him. She was wearing more makeup than usual. Maybe she has a date later, he thought ruefully.
He would have preferred not to deal with her yet, but there she was. She was one reason he hadn’t been looking to move on in the past few months. It might have surprised many of his colleagues, but she was the first person he had had regular sex with that he hadn’t been at least infatuated with right from the beginning. There was no apparent shortage of willing partners around the hospital, but he still clung to a romantic streak (and also a bit of leftover Catholic guilt) that prevented him from enthusiastically pursuing meaningless sex. Despite the assumption by everyone around him that he was getting it regularly, he’d been having a long dry spell before Cameron propositioned him.
Her proposed FWB arrangement had been a novelty for him; an intriguing change of pace and certainly an attractive opportunity. It definitely hadn’t sucked (OK, maybe a new description would be more appropriate). But then, of course, he had gone and screwed it up by wanting something more - so much for his trial run at meaningless. Hell, he’d never liked microwave pizza anyway.
Chase knew he wasn’t inclined to be open with others; he saw it as a survival tactic. He’d been burned early and often by his parents, and didn’t feel much inclined to set himself up for that kind of pain again. There were a few friends he felt very close to, who he felt really knew him, but it was a small and carefully chosen group. That was the way he deliberately played it; he kept his emotional walls pretty sturdy against casual invaders. Cameron certainly wasn’t on the inside yet, or probably, ever. It seemed odd to him, to be so physically close to someone who knew and apparently cared little or nothing about him. She had been happy to talk about her own life, and when he had diverted her first few half-hearted attempts at drawing him out emotionally, she had simply dropped it. For all her tendencies to meddle and try to ‘fix’ other people’s problems, he had blown off her prying surprisingly easily.
And her lack of persistence in learning more about him, and the fact that he still thought of her efforts as ‘prying’, should have been big red flags all along.
If he was honest with himself, he had known for weeks that the ‘It’s Tuesday, I like you’ thing was foolish, if not flat-out pathetic. The truth was, he had chosen his words carefully; he did like Cameron, but he wasn’t in love with her - at least, not yet. The potential had been there in his mind, but plainly not in hers. This was turning out to be an appropriate time to just forget it and move on. It was obvious that she was rather enjoying his Tuesday reminders, but not enough to offer him what he wanted. After this many overtures, she clearly didn’t and probably never would see a probable or even possible future with him.
Cameron interrupted his thoughts. “Hey.”
“Hey. You look great!” Chase managed to smile a bit. “I’m surprised you’re not still at work.”
Cameron shrugged. “We’re at a dead end with the case, so House sent us home. Knowing House, he’ll have a new list of ideas by morning.”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. A simple conversation between real friends shouldn’t be this hard, thought Chase.
“You know House firing you has nothing to do with you,” Cameron blurted.
“Why does it matter?”
“Foreman’ll end up staying, House’ll call you, probably yell at you for not showing up.”
Chase glanced down at the bar. “It’s, it’s OK. He’s right. It’s time for a change… You were right too. The whole ‘It’s Tuesday, I like you’, it’s silly.
Chase paused. For a moment, Cameron had looked a bit crestfallen at his remark. But then she got that patented “I’m so concerned for you and your horrendous problem” look that annoyed the hell out of him.
“Oh, don’t give me that look. Don’t feel sorry for me. Getting this job was THE best thing that has ever happened to me. Everything about it. And losing it? And, well, losing it… I… think it’s… gonna be good, too.”
“I’ll miss you.”
OK, maybe he was misreading the signals, but for a moment it looked like Cameron wanted to say something more. She didn’t, though, and this seemed too abrupt an end to their relationship. What do I have to lose?
“Have you got time for a drink or something?”
“I think I should go.”
“Yeah.” Chase shrugged and turned back to his dinner. OK, maybe that one last futile gesture did make him feel worse. Great - my father couldn’t be bothered to have a drink with me. Foreman couldn’t be bothered, now Cameron can’t either. Nice to be wanted .
He shook his head in disgust with himself. Well, boo hoo for me - maybe I should go eat worms, or something. He took a big bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. So, that’s the end of that; one less complication in my life. Then he smiled, remembering back when they were still hiding their sexual relationship from everyone at PPTH. Probably Foreman had been right all along. House and Wilson did make a more likely couple than Chase and Cameron.
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Heeeeere's Part 5
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A/N: Comments let me know that someone's out there!