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Watching his new — "freshly imported" as he often called him when gossiping with Wilson — doctor has been House's new hobby recently.
There was just so many aspects of his transition. Normally his new team members struggled to get used to him enough already.
But Chase seemed to be the first doctor that didn't find House's personality the hardest thing to get used to.
At first he was insanely jet-lagged, struggling to get used to the new time zone. Maybe House was exaggerating but at some point as if Chase slept through most differentials.
"Earth to koala" he'd say, shaking his shoulder. Or "Wake up, Blondie, you're not here only for aesthetic purposes", while snapping his fingers in front of the young doctor's face.
Then there was the accent issue. Chase seemed to be confused about what he should do — talk normally (with his accent) or try to talk "normally" (with his attempt of American accent). The goal was to avoid House's remarks, which — to an inexperienced person — felt like pure bullying.
When he started speaking with his accent, House would mock him constantly.
So then Chase made the worst decision possible — he tried to force his accent sound just slightly American. It sounded absolutely dreadful and now he could be absolutely sure that House was indeed bullying him. Rightfully so, to be honest.
At some point he was bordering on either speaking his normal accent feeling really out of place or trying to sound American and failing miserably and spectacularly.
But, still, this wasn't the worst part. The worst part was simply the nature turning against him.
Cognitively, he was aware that the seasons were flipped on the hemispheres. When he was getting on the plane on a hot December day, he knew he was going to be welcomed by winter once he'd land in Princeton. He also knew very well that American winters were a bit more harsh; he read about it, to be prepared.
But even though he had this knowledge in theory, he hadn't been prepared at all for the reality. When he get off the plane, he was hit with such coldness, he actually started considering getting back on the nearest plane to Australia. It wouldn't even have to be to Melbourne at that point. Anywhere else would do.
House had trouble with even expressing the joy he was feeling while observing Chase and his conflict with the forces of nature. It was absolutely hilarious. It was an endless cycle. Chase would come to work cold, then he'd decide to wear something warmer the next day, but then the nature decided to drop the temperature even lower too. It was a never ending two-sided chase (pun intended).
At some point it's become House's routine to come to work early, check the weather report for the day, then grin mischievously. Next he'd get up and make sure that both coffee and tea jugs were emptied of the hot, soothing beverages (sometimes he'd even give some of it to Wilson, who suspected poisoning or drugging each day, but yet drank it anyway). And then he'd wait, almost sadistically happy to greet the young doctor.
That routine stayed unscathed.
Until the Christmas Eve.
House sat down in the office, glancing through the window and grinning like a maniac. He never understood why children were so excited about snowy Christmas, but he did now.
He turned to the rest of the team. "Whose bet was on today?" he asked.
Donovan scoffed. "Oh, as if you don't know" she huffed, then added. "Yours"
"Just because there's a snowstorm today, doesn't mean he's going to get sick exactly today" Anderson added.
House smirked. "Wanna double the bet then?" he suggested jokingly. They both knew better than agree to that. "He's been off recently already. There's no way that this weather isn't going to finish him" he explained.
"Well, what about the magic of Christmas and miracles?" Anderson replied, not fully serious.
"And that's why you two will never beat an atheist in bets. They require some rational thinking, which you lack" House replied. "Also" he added, looking up at the clock. "He's late. For the first time since he started working here. You can already pay up" he said, holding his hand out.
"Not a chance. There could be millions of reasons for that. Especially in such weather"
House shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say. If he's not here, I won the bet either way"
Around half an hour later, House glanced up at the clock.
"Alright, there's no was he's comin—"
His eyes moved to the door and he froze for a good while, the rest of the team immediately doing the same. Then House just burst into laughter.
"Well..." He managed to say, still struggling to calm down. "That is quite a look"
Chase gave him a glare which was nowhere near as intimidating as it was intended to be. Not with how he currently looked.
He was covered in snow. It was completely stuck to his beanie, his hair, his scarf and his jacket — which was definitely not warm enough, House might add.
He took the beanie, the scarf and the jacket off and hung them, while looking as if he was personally offended by the white substance that covered them. Then he sat down at the table, shivering. "So... Any improvements on the patient?" He asked.
"Seems like we're about to have a second one right here" House said with a smirk.
"I have so many questions" Anderson added amused.
Donovan was the only one who actually replied to Chase's question. "The meds seemed to be working yesterday but today she got worse"
"New differential" House said, getting up and walking over to the whiteboard.
"Hmm" Chase closed his eyes, feeling a raging headache spreading through his brain. "Lupus?" He suggested, immediately cringing at the idea. It didn't even fit.
House glanced at him. "I'm going to ignore that, since the coldness clearly makes you stupid" he said.
Chase glanced up, deciding to defend his suggestion anyway. "Some of the symptoms fit" he said, closing his eyes again. "No risk in checking anyway" he added, the fatigue making his accent a bit thicker.
"Oi, Crikey mate!" House replied in annoyingly exaggerated attempt of Australian accent imitation. "Naur risk? Well, that changes everything, let's test him for any disease we can think of"
Chase winced. God, he was completely useless, it wasn't going to be a great day.
"How about MS?" Donovan suggested.
House nodded. "Okay, I'll take it. Definitely better than lupus. Go do the MRI. Anderson, do a lumbar puncture" he said, before turning to Chase. "You stay here and do the paperwork"
Chase groaned inwardly. Great, in House's world paperwork was equal to decapitation.
Oddly enough, sitting in a rather warm office with an endless access to hot tea and coffee didn't seem that bad today. He just nodded while the others left.
A loud thud woke him up. He immediately sat up, raising his head from the table.
God, his sinuses hurt. So did his muscles. And, God, how much his head ached.
Okay, enough of that, focus.
He glanced up at the pile of fresh paperwork House had brought him in addition to the previous one (which Chase had barely started). He sighed.
"Where's Anderson and Donovan?" He asked, his voice hoarse and croaky, speaking immediately made him cough a bit.
Ugh, his throat burned like he swallowed a lump of smoldering coal.
House eyed him for a while before replying. "Home already" he said.
Right, they both had asked to leave early due to the Christmas Eve, Chase remembered.
He nodded. "Right" he said, wincing a bit and immediately grabbing the mug with the steaming tea. Well, it had been steaming, before he fell asleep. It was cold now.
Speaking of cold.
Was the room freezing or was it just his perception? He reached for the radiator knob.
"You've already reached the maximum setting" House said dryly before grabbing the mug and walking over to the sink, pouring the tea out.
Chase opened his mouth to protest, but then he saw House grabbing a tea bag and turning the kettle on.
Oh.
"So... How did that happen?" House asked suddenly.
Chase blinked, slightly confused. "Sorry. How did what happen?"
"God, you're truly useless today" House commented amused. "This whole disaster. Do you just have no survival instinct whatsoever?" He continued speaking, while making the tea. Then he cut a lemon and squeezed a bit of its juice — which Chase wondered what House got from, at least until House added some honey. The jar was labeled.
"The property of Dr. Simpson. Do not take. That means you too, Dr House. Especially you. Leave my stuff alone"
Chase couldn't help but smirk slightly at that. Of course.
House returned to the table and sat down next to Chase, putting the mug down. "You still didn't answer" he said.
Chase sighed. "Just having an awful day" he mumbled.
"Do you always end up late and as shivering and sick snowman when you're having an awful day?"
Chase sighed. "Well, I was late because I overslept... Sorry about that, by the way..."
House shrugged. "Eh, I sometimes don't show up due to hangover, I guess coming down with something is a decent excuse. I'll allow it this time" he said. "So... How did you end up looking so dreadful?"
Chase sighed. "Well, I was already running late, then I found out my car windshield was completely covered in frost—"
"Obviously" House commented.
Chase just rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I was completely not prepared for that and I didn't want to be any more late so I just went to a bus stop instead" he said, before grabbing the mug and taking a few sips of the tea.
House raised his eyebrows. "Dumb choice" he said. "Okay, that explains the lateness. And the snow, since I bet you waited ages for the bus and there's a bit of walk from the nearest stop to the hospital" he admitted. "What about the jacket. What the hell were you thinking wearing that?"
"Well, I kinda underestimated the weather when preparing the clothes for today to wear"
House smirked. "Oh, come on. How hard is it to get prepared for the day like that? You just check the weather forecast and there you go. Nothing about 5 degrees seriously didn't tip you off?"
Chase glanced down.
House frowned before his eyes widened in realization. Then a grin immediately appeared on his face. "You took it as 5 Celsius." He more stated than asked.
"I was exhausted" Chase muttered, trying to mask his embarrassment with a slight offense, despite the fact that his cheeks turned redder than they already were.
House shook his head. "Wow, you really are an idiot" he said, chuckling.
Chase just posted, drinking the tea again. It was surprisingly nice. Soothing even.
He suddenly set the mug down on the table in quite a rush and turned away from House, before sneezing. Once. No, twice. Three times.
House stayed silent. Figures he was the last person to say "Bless you".
Chase returned his attention to the paperwork. For a while he just stared at it. The words felt like pure gibberish, a nonsense that didn't make sense. He couldn't keep attention on more than one so there was no way to form sentences out of them. He grabbed a pen regardless.
But before he could write anything, House snatched the papers from him. "You're useless" he said setting them down. He touched Chase's forehead with the back of his hand, sighing a bit. Then he got up, grabbing his coat and putting it on. "Come on, we're going to go to the patient's house again to check for the mould"
Chase frowned. "Donovan and Anderson already did" he pointed out.
"Well, they're idiots"
Chase didn't protest, just grabbed his jacket and put it on too, as well as the beanie and scarf.
House grabbed his own beanie put it on Chase's head additionally, then wrapped his own scarf around him too.
As they left House told him to wait, then entered Wilson's office, just to return with a big thermos that Chase decided not to question so they just headed straight to House's car.
Chase curled up on the car seat, shivering.
House didn't comment that, he didn't even seem to be looking at him. He did set the car AC to a maximum heating settings though.
Chase didn't comment either. He smiled softly though.
They drove in silence for a while. House was simply focused on the road and Chase, well—
House glanced at him.
Chase was —unsurprisingly— asleep.
Chase stirred awake as he felt something grabbing his arm and and shaking it. He opened his eyes and noticed the car was parked now. He sat up straighter and looked around.
"We're at my address... Weren't we supposed to—? How did you even—?"
"You seriously thought I'd let my sick employee look for a potentially dangerous mould? And I'm your employer, how hard do you think it is for me to look up your address anytime I need to?"
Chase didn't question that. He was a bit dumbfounded by the fact that House just... drove him home... once he was still supposed to work for another few hours. In the eleven days he has worked for him, he was pretty sure he's never seen House show any form of niceness or kindness.
He didn't notice House leaving the car until he opened the door for him. "Come on" the older doctor said before grabbing the mysterious thermos from the car.
He walked him to the flat and followed him in. "Go to the bathroom, take a hot shower, then change into something warm and cosy" he instructed.
"I'm not a child" Chase mumbled under his breath, sure House wasn't going to hear him anyway.
"Yeah, you're such a responsible adult" House commented sarcastically with a small smirk as he noticed the Australian doctor tense, then he watched him leave into the bathroom. He headed to the kitchen.
As Chase left the bathroom, wearing a comfy pyjama pants and a warm hoodie, he immediately noticed some smell coming from the kitchen and headed there, curious.
House was standing by the stove, heating something in a pot, the thermos was now left empty in the sink.
Chase frowned. "What's that?" He asked curiously.
House turned to him and eyed him up and down, his eyes narrowing as he stopped on his feet. He glared at him. "Socks. Bed. Now"
Chase was too surprised to argue with that. He immediately headed straight to the bedroom, scared of earning another scolding from his boss.
He put on some warm socks and immediately crawled into the bed, burrowing himself under a duvet.
He stretched and then curled up with a small groan. Resting made him realise how miserable he actually felt. "Ugh, America sucks" he mumbled, though obviously not really meaning anything malignant by that.
"Ouch, hurting my country like that when I'm taking care of you" House said, walking in, pretending to be hurt by that.
Chase winced. "Sorry"
House set down the tray he was carrying and grabbed a cover, before covering Chase with it on top of the duvet. Then he grabbed the tray again and sat down on the edge of the bed.
There was a bowl with some kind of orange soup on the tray as well as a shot glass with a few various pills and another cup of tea.
Chase glanced at the bowl. "What is this?" He asked curiously.
"Wilson's pumpkin-carrot cream soup with a touch of ginger. Famous for its healing properties" House replied, before grabbing the shot glass. "First, take these" he said.
Chase obeyed without arguing and just swallowed them all. Then he grabbed the mug when House handed it to him. He took a sip of the tea and his eyes went wide.
"What the hell did you add?"
"Just a bit of vodka, it'll make you warmer"
"I don't have any alcohol here" he said confused.
"Yeah, I had to go to the store in such a weather, shame on you" House said, smirking.
After Chase drank half of the cup, House set it on the nightstand and handed him the bowl. "Unless you want me to spoon-feed you" he joked.
Chase's eyes widened." God no"
He grabbed the bowl and started eating the soup. "Mm, it's really good" then he frowned. "Wait, you must've asked Dr Wilson yesterday, how did you know I was going to be sick today?"
House shrugged. "Well, I bet you would be so it'd be rude of you not to comply" he said with a smirk.
Chase glared at him. "You all bet on me getting sick? Wow, charming" he commented, a bit offended.
House scoffed. "Oh, please, it would have been shocking if you hadn't got sick considering all the circumstances"
Chase couldn't argue with that.
House got up. "I'll have someone deliver you more soup tomorrow. Call me if you get worse or something. Don't die, I just got you imported. Oh, and don't you dare coming to the hospital before you're fully healthy again"
Chase sighed. "Not a good start of me working for you, is it?" He said with a wince.
"Yeah, how dare you get sick when working with so many sick people? I'm always so disappointed when my new employees turn out to be actual human beings" House replied sarcastically, then walked to the door. "And, I was serious about calling me if something's wrong, don't be an idiot"
Chase raised his eyebrow. "Calling you on Christmas?"
House shrugged. "I don't give a crap, I'm an atheist" he siad simply, then left.
Chase watched him go, then closed his eyes.
"Okay, maybe America doesn't suck that much..." He mumbled, a small warm smile appearing on his face as he started drifting off into a blissful drowse.