Chase blinked slowly up to the ceiling, wincing a little as his eyes adjusted to the harsh florescent lighting. He was sore, his entire body stiff and unwilling to obey the simple request of sitting up. He groaned softly, gritting his teeth a little as his hand brushed past the long bandage that covered his side.

"Well, good morning princess." A gruff voice muttered from somewhere off to the side.

Chase took a slow breath and turned to meet House's steady gaze. "Hey." He managed weakly, surprised by how scratchy his voice was and swallowing hard.

"Hey yourself." The older doctor replied, standing on his newly casted foot and limping over to the bed so the other man didn't have to strain to see him. "About time you woke up, if I heard one more death threat from Cameron I was going to take her up on the offer." The bruise across his eyebrow had faded slightly, or maybe that was the lighting, and a small, white bandage had been stretched across it.

"How long have I been out?" Chase asked, slowly pulling himself into a sitting position and pressing a hand gingerly to his side.

"Well, 56 stitches and losing 2 pints of blood landed you in the hospital for a good three days." House grinned brightly as the younger man paled.

"I've been unconscious for three days!"

"Well, day and a half actually but you're supposed to stay here for three. By the way, you've got about a pint of my blood swishing through you so I refuse to apologize for any adverse reactions you may experience."

Chase felt a tiny smile pull at his mouth. "You gave me some of your blood? How generous."

"Please." House rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "It was either that or have you die in the ambulance on the way here. Plus Cameron would be much more pissed if you'd bit the big one before she had a chance to tear into you about your stupidity."

An amiable silence fell between the two for a few minutes before anyone spoke.

"Hey House…?"

"What?"

"When I was unconscious…were you talking to me at all…?"

House bristled almost instantly and managed to hide the blush that threatened to expose him to the world. "Why do you ask?"

Chase shrugged a little, blinking at the ceiling once again and thinking back. "I don't know…there was just this time…in between sessions of coherence…I thought I heard you talking to me. You said something about me having potential…and something about not letting you down…?"

"Never."

"Huh?"

"You're more diluted than you look." House groused, refusing to make eye contact with the younger doctor. "I'd never say anything like that about you." While it was probably true, there was no malice or anger in House's voice and Chase felt absurdly proud of himself for getting it right.

"Hey House…?"

"Damn, what?"

"Thank you."

The older man smirked and pulled out a thin envelope from his pocket. "If you really want to thank me, you can pay back this insurance bill." He tossed it onto Chase's stomach and stepped back as he sat up a little higher.

Chase's eyes widened as he read through the bill. "Are they kidding! The accident wasn't even our fault!"

"Ah ah." House said, waving a finger in disagreement. "There is no "our" in this conversation. You wrecked the car so you get to pay the bill."

"But we were nearly killed because of another driver's negligence!"

"No "we.""

"How can they expect us to pay this back!"

"No "us" either."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"House-" Chase started but stopped as he saw the older man walking over to his IV. His eyes widened. "No! No! You cannot get out of this conversation by turning up the morphine!"

"Watch me." A knob was adjusted and Chase immediately felt his body become heavier.

"You dick!…That's…not….fair….." The words barely had time to leave his mouth before Chase had fallen back into a drug induced sleep thanks to House.

House smirked a little and walked back over to the bed, adjusting the blankets around Chase's shoulders and picking up the envelope. He'd never tell him he'd already paid the bill or that he had prevented Cuddy from annihilating Chase the minute he was rolled into the hospital. With a smirk, House tucked the envelope back into his pocket and stepped out of the room, leaving Chase asleep behind him. He was interested to see just how far slavery could get him anyway…