About Last Night - HouseMD FanFiction - James Wilson x Original Character

10: The Trouble with Chase

It was afternoon and House was calling me into his office. Apparently there was a "big emergency" that simply could not wait until I finished the last few mouthfuls of my coffee.
I walked into his office and was taken aback almost immediately by the sight of Dr Chase. I thought he'd left!
"Dr Byrne, how are you?" he said.
"This is the big emergency?" I looked over at House.
"Absolutely!" House exclaimed, "This asshole is looking for his job back!"
"So?" I said, "Give it to him. Saves you the trouble of finding two new doctors and getting used to them, as you said."
"I'm just not so sure if I want to," he mumbled.
"Gregory, are you genuinely this stubborn?" I muttered, "Look, you know he's good at the job. Why not give it to him? Chase, why are you back?"
"Didn't work out in the other place in the end," Chase said, "I figure I should just come back here for a while and keep supporting myself."
"Seems plausible to me," I shrugged, "House, please, it'll be so much easier for you."
Chase and I left the office and went to the cafeteria for yet another coffee. The amount of caffeine you need to get yourself through a day in a hospital is probably dangerous.
"I'm glad your back," I said, sitting down, "I was holding down the fort all by myself!"
"Yeah, we kind of left you in the deep end with House," he laughed, "Sorry about that."
I shrugged, "Eh, it was fun sometimes. Plus I had Wilson for civilised conversation to keep myself sane."
"Oh yeah," Chase sort of mumbled, "Is that still happening?"
"What do you mean?"
"You and Wilson?"
"Yeah, it's been a while now. What's wrong?"
Chase didn't seem too impressed with my still being with James, "Nothing, no. Maybe it's just that Cameron and I were... I don't know."
"I get it," I said, feeling sympathetic, "Happy couples wouldn't be the best topic of conversation for you. And I was sorry to hear about you guys."
He shrugged, "Well, I'm just glad I know I can move along."
We talked some more as he walked with me back to my office.
He then left to go sort out details about his re-hirement with Cuddy.
House called us both into his office later that afternoon.
"So, guys, thirty year old female drops down and stops breathing," he tapped the whiteboard, "What do we think?"
"Asthma?" I suggested.
"Wonderful. Next?" House scribbled it down onto the whiteboard.
"Maybe something viral? Was anyone near her sick?" Chase said.
"Not that we know of. Do an MRI scan of the lungs and we'll work from there."
Chase and I left and brought the woman straight down to the MRI machine.
James walked in as we were settling her down.
"Hey, guys, what're we looking at?"
"Not sure yet," I said, "She had some kind of a fit."
We started up the scanner and waited.
"Always a good time," Chase whispered, "Seeing if someone's dying or not."
"Oh, the little joyous moments of life," I whispered back.
"Doesn't seem to be anything," said James.
We all agreed and got ready to turn it off.
"Hang on," I jumped suddenly, "What's that?"
"What's what?" Chase asked.
I looked closer. Sure enough, there was a tiny cluster of something in the left lung.
I put on my glasses to see a bit better.
"Nice specs," Chase snorted.
"Look," I said, rolling my eyes and pointing at the screen.
"Oh my God," he breathed, "You're right!"
"Yeah no shit," I muttered, "Take a photo."
"You're amazing," Chase elbowed me, "Well done!"
"Thanks!" I elbowed him back.
"Yeah, she's incredible," James suddenly chimed in, staring weirdly at Chase.
"Well, let's go show House what we found," I mumbled, picking up the photo and leaving.
"Incredible," House said, looking ever so closely at the photo, "What could it be though? Wilson, can cancer be this little and cute?"
"Little, yes," James sighed, "Cute, not so much."
"It's ADORABLE," House exclaimed.
"Right, I'll go see if it is in fact a cute little cancer case," James rolled his eyes.
"Chase, Byrne, lumbar puncture, see if you can find anything," House ordered.
"Actually," James said, "Could Byrne help me out with the cancer tests, I could use a second opinion on some of them."
"Yes," House said, "After she does the LP."
"No," James replied, slightly more aggressively, "I'm sure Dr Chase can handle an LP on his own."
"Look, it's fine, it'll only take a few minutes to do it, then Chase can get the results while I do the cancer tests with Wilson," I shrugged.
"Works for me," said Chase, "Let's go."
"Claire," James began.
"James, is everything ok?" I said.
He nodded.
Chase and I sped down the hallway and went into the woman's room.
"Hello, I'm Dr Byrne, this is Dr Chase, we have to do a little test and, I won't sugarcoat this, it will probably hurt like a bitch for a minute."
"Nice," Chase whispered in my ear.
We did the LP and Chase took the spinal fluid to run it through the tests.
James popped in a minute later.
"This is Dr Wilson," I pointed towards him, smiling.
"Yes, I need to do some tests too, nothing to worry about," he smiled politely.
James sorted out his tests and we went to the lab to check them out.
"So, what do you need me to look at?" I asked, scanning through his work.
"Nothing, really," he chuckled, "Chase is just weird around you, I don't like it."
"Huh?!" I found myself half-yelling.
"What, honey? Am I not allowed to be a little protective over my girlfriend?" he said, still looking through the tests.
"Do you not trust me?"
"It's Chase I don't trust, not you."
"But he hasn't done anything!"
"Oh really?" James looked up at me from the test, "You guys weren't being particularly shy during the MRI scan."
My jaw dropped, "You are genuinely having a laugh. Chase has been nothing but friendly to me over the last few days!"
"Yeah, sure, I'm thinking it's more than "friendly" he's looking for," James mumbled.
"What gives you the right to decide who I'm friends with at work?" I laughed in disbelief.
"Oh, no, Claire, please don't get mad-"
"Don't get mad?!" I was definitely mad, "I'm gonna go do my job and try to fix this woman while you pout over the fact that I hang out with more than just you!"
I stormed off back to the diagnostics room next to House's office.
Chase was already there with the LP results.
"Where's Wilson?" House asked as I walked in.
"He's not finished," I muttered, sitting down.
"Uh oh, Chase, I think Mom and Dad are fighting," House made an overly fake sad face.
Chase chuckled, "You alright, Byrne?"
"Yeah, yeah," I said.
James walked in with his results.
"So, I got nothing much," Chase said, showing his LP results.
"Cute cancer case is off the table too," James said, showing his results.
"Huh," I said quietly, "Maybe some kind of monstrous asthma."
"Asthma," Chase repeated.
I looked over at him, "Sorry, is there an echo in here or have you figured something out?"
"Doctor Claire Byrne, you, my friend, are a genius," Chase stood up all of a sudden.
"Yes, I know, but why?"
"It all fits!"
"He's right, Byrne," House said, staring at the board, "We made a mistake of thinking the worst."
"She had an asthma attack?!" I exclaimed, standing up as well.
"I know, anticlimactic," House shrugged, disappointed.
I looked closely at everything we wrote on the board.
"See, I'm right!" Chase was excited now.
"You definitely are!"
"Woohoo, case closed!"
Chase threw an arm around me and gave me a sort of half-hug-squeeze with one arm.
"Jesus, Chase, go get the woman an inhaler," I laughed.
"Well, that wasn't interesting," House muttered, "Anyway, go back to your jobs."
James ran up behind me while I was walking back to my office. I blatantly avoided him by dipping into the ladies bathroom and using the door on the other side of it.
Once I got to the office, I shut the door and locked it. When did he become so distrusting?