Shades of Amber.

This story will be about Amber. I think I have to mark it as AU since we know so little about her and since we don't know how, or even if, she is coming back. If that happens, this will definitely be outside canon. This story will be mostly Amber-centric, so there won't be an awful lot of House in it and some may even seem to be out of character since explanations for his actions will be few. The other character is Chase, as a friend – no shipping, but we'll see how they decide to obey me again. As noted before, they are not mine, they just want me to come out and play every once in a while and quite often they just take over!

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Liquid Amber

Amber Volakis was sitting in a bar staring at the empty glass in her hand. Not that long ago the glass had contained whisky, and she was now contemplating asking for a refill, but hadn't quite gotten around to it. Mostly because she wasn't sure yet how drunk she wanted to get – and how fast she wanted to get there.

Earlier that day she had been fired. Sure, there was some feeling in Dr House's face when he told her that she had just lost – he seemed to almost understand what that meant for Amber – but that had not stopped him from firing her. That he had also fired 13 was a very small consolation. It didn't matter who else lost if you weren't the one who won. It didn't even matter who won, if it wasn't you. She had played the game to the best of her ability, House had even commented on that, said that she was the one who played it the best. But apparently that had been a lie. Because it seemed she hadn't even known what the game really was. House had his own rules, his own agenda, his own game and he rewarded who he wanted. And that was that.

So here she was, getting drunk and trying to convince herself that getting fired was a character-building experience. Like she hadn't had enough character building experiences in her life to last her for the rest of that said life! Taub and Kutner had suggested getting together for goodbye drinks but she wasn't interested. Those two would have been celebrating their victory, no matter how much they might have tried to hide it, and she didn't want to be anywhere near any victory parties. She set her glass back to the counter; she decided that she wanted to get quite drunk.

Before Amber managed to catch the bartender's attention a bottle of whisky emerged into her line of vision and somebody poured her a drink. She looked up and saw Dr Chase holding the bottle. She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment trying to fathom what he was up to. From what they knew of each other, she would have expected him to just walk away if he would even notice her.

"I don't need any pity," Amber ventured finally.

"Good," Chase stated sitting down next to her. "None on offer."

"Or sympathy," Amber clarified, just in case.

"Pity by any other name does not smell any sweeter," Chase paraphrased. "No sympathy either."

"Then what is this?" Amber nodded at her glass.

"What does it look like?" Chase asked.

"It looks like a free drink," Amber stated. "Only..."

"You don't believe in free drinks," Chase finished for her. "Smart girl."

"No," Amber confirmed. "In my experience there are no such things as a free drink – or free anything."

"You could look upon it as the spoonful of sugar," Chase suggested.

"The medicine being getting fired?" Amber queried.

"No," Chase frowned at the bottle avoiding her eyes. "This is a bit late for that one. No, the medicine is that House hired 13."

Amber blinked. She wasn't sure if it was just surprise or if she actually felt tears in her eyes. No, it was surprise. "I don't think there is enough sugar in the world to get that go down in a delightful way." Amber declared, but she did empty her glass – and that did bring some tears into her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Did he fire one of the guys?"

"No," Chase turned to look at her again. "Dr Cuddy was not happy with an all-male team so she insisted that House must hire a woman as well. So he hired 13."

"Well, he did tell her that if he had three spots he would have kept her," Amber said trying to keep all emotion out of her voice.

"I'm surprised he didn't hire you," Chase revealed. "He asked my opinion and I said that he should hire you and Taub; you two get things done."

"But he didn't listen to you, did he? I wonder how many others he asked..." suddenly it all dawned on Amber: the whole game; it wasn't so much a competition between the candidates for the team as it was a game House played for and with Dr Cuddy. The team was just a tool; they were all just pawns in the match between the King and the Queen. "Dr Cuddy told him that he could hire only two people, so naturally he wanted three. To get three, he needed to hire an all-male team because that would make Dr Cuddy tell him to hire a woman, too. And thus he got his team of three."

"You're forgetting Foreman," Chase pointed out.

"Fine, team of four, if you want," Amber dismissed. "But I don't think House really sees Dr Foreman as part of the team. I'm not sure what he is and what he is supposed to do, but I assume House's next move will be to find a way to get rid of him."

"I'm not sure he would do that," Chase poured both of them another drink – having finished his own glass, too. "Foreman may be somewhat superfluous to requirement, but he has his uses. Especially if House plans to go on with his games with Dr Cuddy, and I rather think he will."

"And what those games are, is anybody's guess," Amber muttered lifting her drink. She didn't drink just yet, just admired the play of light on the amber liquid. "You know, it doesn't make it any easier to accept that the real reason for getting fired was office politics."

"Part of the reason," House stated. "Even office politics won't get him to hire idiots. In that sense the last test was real."

"But we didn't solve the case," Amber frowned. "None of us was right."

"But you were all wrong in ways that enabled him to come up with the answer," Chase pointed out. "That's how he works. He throws diagnosis at the patient and picks the one that sticks. Like spaghetti."

"So it doesn't matter if his team is right or wrong as long as he is eventually right," Amber concluded.

"Not exactly," Chase mused. "He is addicted to medical puzzles, and he will not be happy until the puzzle is solved to his satisfaction. He doesn't really care who gives him the answer to the puzzle as long as it fits and he's happy with it. I don't know if wanting to be right is what got him into medicine but now it's about the puzzle and solving it. He can handle someone else being right as long as the answer satisfies him. On the other hand, I have seen him cure a patient and still search for the final piece of the puzzle until he is happy he knows what happened and why."

"Yeah, rub it in, you had your three years with him," Amber huffed a little.

"Yet he fired me in the end," Chase pointed out. "You he fired after just weeks, and maybe you are the lucky one."

"What do you mean?" Amber didn't understand Chase's statement at all.

"Look at us," Chase invited. "His former team. Foreman quit because he didn't want to become House – not that he ever had even a hope of that, but still, he thought he was turning into something he believed House to be. Where is he now? Right back where he left: working with and for House. Then there is Cameron, who also quit. She got all the way to Arizona, until she heard that there was an opening here in Princeton-Plainsborough Teaching Hospital. Sure it was ER, and she had just spent three years of her life in a Diagnostics fellowship, but that did not matter. The location was all that did matter to her. And here she is, back where she started. The only difference is that she changed her hair colour. House said that she looks like a hooker. She was pleased."

"Why would that please her?" Amber was almost appalled.

"He likes hookers," Chase shrugged like it should have been obvious without saying. "And then there is me. He fired me and I, too, got all the way to Arizona, until my betrothed decided she wanted to come back here and I followed like a puppy. I know why she wanted to come back. I know that House only has to crook a finger and she's gone. And that does not matter to me. Because knowing that she loves House doesn't change anything. How could I blame her when I love House too."

"Oh!" Amber was all eyes suddenly.

"Obviously not the same way, since I'm not gay, but I totally understand the spell that man can cast on people," Chase clarified. "You really should count your blessings. You have worked for House but it didn't last so long that you could be incurably addicted to him."

"I'm unemployed right now," Amber smiled with some bitterness. "I don't think that could really be counted as a blessing."

"You have excellent qualifications," Chase pointed out. "You don't need to stay unemployed for long. There is even an opening in Radiology in PPTH if you want to try for that one. The salary is better than you got with House."

"I suppose I could try for that," Amber agreed. It was a job and it might give her time to think what she really wanted to do next. There were other fellowships in the country, too. "Should I try for a recommendation from House? Or would that be useless?"

"If you write your own recommendation you could easily get him to sign it," Chase shrugged. "But for this job it would be useless. The head of Radiology hates House passionately. It almost makes me suspect he is gay."

"You think House turned him down?" Amber wondered.

"No, I think he might have the hots for Wilson," Chase smiled. "Anyway, I think I better take my bottle and go where I was originally supposed to go. Look, there are worse things than getting fired by House. You have guts and you're a good doctor. You wouldn't have lasted eight weeks with him if you weren't."

"Thanks," Amber accepted, though she was still in the dark as to why Chase had stopped by her in the first place. She knew she was a bitch and she had gotten the impression that Chase quite agreed with that assessment. Maybe it was just pity, though he had managed to hide it pretty well. Anyway, she decided that she had had enough to drink after all. If she was going to try for that radiology position tomorrow it was better not to be too hung over for the interview. "I think I better get home, too. Just in case though, if you think those drinks bought you anything now or in the future, forget it. I didn't agree to anything."

"Fair enough," Chase nodded. "If I want something from you in the future I will bargain for it then and this will have no bearing on that."

"Ok," Amber nodded too. "Just so that we are both clear."

"Absolutely," Chase agreed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Amber said and left.

Chase took his bottle and made his way to a booth at the back of the bar. Two men were waiting for him there.

"What took you so long?" Wilson wanted to know.

"So, is she applying for the position in Radiology?" House went straight to the point.

"Here is your bottle," Chase said giving Wilson the bottle he had and sitting down. "I didn't get any promises from her." He said to House.

"I didn't ask if you got her to promise anything," House reminded him. "I just asked if she will apply for it."

"Yeah, I think so," Chase told him. "Unless something unexpected happens. I don't know how long she will stay there, but she needs a job and she should be able to sail into that one. Unless she makes the mistake of singing your praises."

"You told her that the head hates House?" Wilson wanted to know.

"Yes I told her," Chase smiled mischievously. "I even told her why I think he hates House."

"Because House has been a total jerk to him always," Wilson was puzzled. What else was there?

"I think Chase is talking about our suspicion that Janssen is gay and hates me because of you," House smiled.

"Why because of me?" Wilson was starting to show some signs of alarm.

"Because he has the hots for you," Chase explained innocently.

"But I'm not gay!" Wilson insisted.

"That won't stop him from having hots for you if he is gay," House pointed out.

"He is married," Wilson pointed out.

"So were you," House shrugged.

"But I'm not gay!" Wilson was starting to get distressed.

"Are you sure," Chase joined House in Wilson-baiting. "I mean you seem to be unable to sustain a marriage and you spend an awful lot of time with House."

"And now you," House added. "And if you ask any of his wives they will all name me as one of the reasons for the failure of their marriages to him."

"I'm not gay!!" Wilson ground from between his teeth.

"Should we believe him?" House asked Chase.

"I suppose we must," Chase mused. "Otherwise he may just burst a blood vessel and though we are doctors, I'd rather not go back to work today."

"Ok," House agreed. "Calm down Wilson, we know you're not gay." House told Wilson in a very patronising and unconvincing voice. Wilson just glared at him.