CHAPTER 1 – THE SHORTEST RELATIONSHIP IN HISTORY
Robert Chase rolled over and felt the empty spot next to him in the bed. It was cold, which meant that Allison had been up for a long time. "Allison?" he called out as he sat up in bed. He didn't smell the coffee that had awakened him for the past two days, nor did he hear any movement or get a response to his call. The place had an empty feel to it that kind of unnerved him and he reached down and picked up his sweatpants from the floor where he had flung them the night before. He slipped them on and padded into the living room. "Allison?"
The empty room didn't quite surprise him, although he was disappointed. He glanced around, squinting at the table next to the sofa where he thought he saw a piece of paper. He walked over to the table and looked down at the folded over piece of paper that had "Robert" written on the outside. He took a deep breath before picking it up. He almost didn't bother reading it, because he was fairly certain he knew what it said. When he and Allison had made love the night before ("Had sex", his traitorous mind whispered), she had seemed almost detached from the whole thing…as if she was merely going through the motions.
She had told him that she was tired because she had had a long day. Cuddy had called Cameron the day after she quit and told her that she could work off her two weeks notice in the clinic. Unfortunately for Allison, there was some weird stomach virus going around and not only had the clinic been packed, one quarter of the hospital staff was either out sick or so under the weather that they were practically useless in the clinic. To make matters worse, no one could figure out the source of the stomach bug or how to treat it since normal anti-emetics weren't effective. House had latched on to the mystery and kept Allison hemmed up helping him. Between the clinic and House's demands, it had been easy for Robert to believe her claim of exhaustion.
He read through the letter quickly. Allison had written (in her girly handwriting that always made him smile) that she wasn't ready for a serious relationship, she made a mistake, she thought he was a great guy but she needed more time…blah, blah, blah. Robert balled the letter up and tossed it on the floor before flopping down onto the sofa. He should have known it was too good to be true. Something positive had happened in his life and for two glorious days everything was sunshine and roses. Now…now it was the same crappy life that it had been for the last God-only-knew-how-many years. He sighed. Now all he needed was to get a call from his best prospect for employment telling him that they didn't want him to even bother coming in for an interview.
Chase jumped nearly a foot when the phone rang. He stared at it with dread for four rings before the answering machine picked it up. He grimaced when he heard Dr. Lisa Cuddy's voice. "She probably wants me to help with the stomach virus crisis. There is no way in hell I'm going back there and…" Robert's thoughts became silent as he focused on what Cuddy was saying. "…sorry I didn't get a chance to speak with you before you left. House had no right to just fire you that way. Anyway, I would like to meet with you to discuss other positions available here. In fact, I have something that I think you would be very interested in. Please contact me…"
Chase jumped up and grabbed the phone before she could hang up. "Dr. Cuddy? Yes, I'm here. I was just getting out of the shower." Robert took a second to close his eyes and shake his head as his own stupidity, thinking, "I mean, really, why would I say that to my former boss's boss? I'm such an idiot!" Robert cleared his throat in embarrassment and attempted to recover his dignity. "Um…you said something about another position…?
On the other end of the phone, Cuddy was berating herself for the mental image that filled her mind when Chase mentioned he had just come out of the shower. "Goodness, Lisa. The boy is young enough to be my…little brother. Let's keep the lascivious thoughts to a minimum, shall we?" She heard Chase ask her something, but she had no idea what it was. She took a chance and answered anyway. "Why don't you come in today and we can discuss it?"
Chase thought for a minute. He didn't want to appear too eager, especially when he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to go back to occupying the same space as Gregory House. Or Allison Cameron, for that matter. He was fairly sure House would be able to convince her to stay, at least until he hired a new team. Knowing House, that could take a while.
Cuddy sensed his hesitation and had a feeling she knew the cause. She decided to give him just enough information to make him curious. Get the fish to nibble a bit before jerking the hook into his mouth. Cuddy smiled at the analogy and told him, "You would get a considerable raise and you would no longer have to answer to House."
Chase waited another few seconds before responding. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to come in and talk. I could come this afternoon." Cuddy flipped through her appointment book with a frown. "I have a board meeting this afternoon, but I could see you around 4 o'clock." They spoke for another minute, confirming the time, then Chase said his goodbyes. He sat on the couch, staring at the crumpled up note and wondered if he was setting himself up to be hurt again. He bent over, picked up the note, and smoothed it out. He smiled at the loopy letters on the page, then his lip began to quiver and he curled up on the couch with the letter clutched in his hand, willing himself not to cry.