Picture Puzzles Part 15
Title: Picture Puzzles Part 15/?
Rating: NC-17
Paring/Grouping (whatever you want to call it): House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Summary: House worried can be both good and bad.
Warnings: Mention of abuse in the past to more than one character.
Beta:
recrudescence
(Part 14)
*****
Wilson looked up from his desk to watch House drop into his normal chair. "Hey. You okay?"
"Yeah." House thumped his cane against the floor. "Did we do the right thing this morning?"
Wilson put down his pen. "I think so. Did you get sick afterwards?"
House shook his head. "No, the beer worked."
Wilson nodded. "He seemed to be floating when we started breakfast. It took him over half the ride here to come back."
House used his hands to help his right leg follow his left as he swung his legs up onto the arm of the chair. "Yeah. Making him cry sucks, though."
"I don’t like it either, but if it helps to break down his walls, then…" Wilson shrugged.
House sighed and stared at the ceiling.
"You stayed longer that time."
House closed his eyes. "It’s getting easier. Harder, too."
Wilson wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he changed the subject. "We dragging Chase to lunch?"
House turned his head to look at Wilson. "You already asked him, didn’t you?"
Wilson nodded. "He worries me."
House raised his eyebrows. "Why?"
"He never does anything reactionary when he gets hit." Wilson rubbed the back of his neck. "He said he got used to being hit."
House sighed. "Did he say if it was home or school related?"
"No. All he said was that fighting was bad."
"Hmm. If we don’t push about it, he might say more." House stared at the ceiling. "Him not wanting me to say I’m sorry is telling."
Wilson cocked his head. "What does it tell you?"
House glanced at Wilson. "He’s heard way too many insincere apologies." House flexed his right foot. "I got him crossword books."
"Going to do anything else?"
"Yeah." House turned his head to look at Wilson. "Tell me something."
"Okay."
"How clueless about the abuse are you?"
Wilson blinked. "Yours or his?"
"Either." House frowned. "Start with mine."
Wilson shrugged. "Pretty clueless on the actual abuse suffered. Chase seems to have that figured out way better than I do. I get the trust and control issues. You surprised me this morning with the pants, sorry about that."
House shook his head. "It’s fine. I didn’t exactly plan that."
"Yeah. With Chase, I feel more lost. He’s worse than you about understating things or just stating them in such a way you totally miss that he’s talking about him."
"His understanding on my abuse is worrisome."
Wilson’s eyes widened. "You think he might have been sexually abused?"
House grimaced. "No. I don’t think so. His reactions point towards physical abuse. I’m thinking that there was so much of it that any type of abuse is easy for him to grasp."
"Can I kill his parents?"
House turned to stare at the ceiling again. "You already told me I couldn’t, so no. I saw Cameron arguing with him."
Wilson sighed. "She’s not going to accept any explanation other than abuse now."
"She’ll get over it. Did Cuddy say anything to you?"
"No, just Chase. I don’t think it was bad. She just looked worried, not pissed."
"She’ll accept that it was an accident."
Wilson blinked. "You got her at some point, didn’t you?"
House glared at Wilson. "Next time I’ll make sure it’s you."
"I hit back."
House snorted. "You didn’t in my hallucination."
"I still can’t believe you hit me on purpose, even if it was in your head."
"In my head, Chase actually had the right answer."
"Well, of the three, Chase has the best instincts; your head knows that."
"Yeah." House swung his legs down. "Tell him that I agreed with you and I’ll never fuck you again."
"He wouldn’t believe it anyway."
House pursed his lips. "Which is why I barely ever compliment him."
"Whatever, House. We both know you don’t compliment him because you can’t be bothered to remember to do so." Wilson waved at the balcony door. "Go play with your charts, some of us have patients to deal with."
"Lunch."
Wilson didn’t look up from his desk as he answered, "Yes, lunch. With Chase. You know where I’ll be."
****
Wilson followed the other two through the line as he filled his tray. When House picked up an extra portion of fries, Wilson knew they were going to need to do something about the pain soon. He always eats more grease and salt when it bothers him too much.
At the cashier, when House left his own tray and took Chase’s as he headed for a table, Wilson almost laughed at Chase’s expression.
Chase turned towards Wilson. "What the bloody hell was that?"
Wilson shrugged. "He’s trusting you with his food." Wilson tapped House’s tray. "He’s still apologizing."
"Oh. He already apologized. He gave me enough crossword books to last a month or more." Chase dug into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a small book. "See? He even gave me one I can carry around."
Wilson patted Chase’s arm as he waited for his change. "That’s just the beginning. This is House’s version of mother-henning and saying sorry rolled together."
"Hmm." Chase dug into another pocket. "That reminds me…here." Chase handed Wilson a small digital camera, picked up both trays of food, and headed towards House.
Wilson smiled at the confused-looking cashier and followed Chase as he figured out the camera. House had gone further than normal and taken a table against the wall. He was sitting facing most of the room and he’d plopped Chase’s tray across from him.
Have to admire the tactics. Even though it’s probably just because he’s wanting to make sure Chase is facing away from people, he can blame it on being sorry for at least a couple of days. Wilson let Chase shield him from House’s eyes as they approached.
Chase set House’s tray in front of the older man as he looked up. "Here." Chase set down Wilson’s tray and nudged his tray with his finger. "Are you going to mother-hen me all week, then?"
House glowered and started to say something when Wilson snapped a picture. House’s eyebrows went up and he started to grab for the camera, but Wilson pulled it back out of reach.
"Ah, ah, this isn’t for you, House."
House grinned. "I knew you were evil."
Wilson smiled as he sat down. Under the cover of the table, he slipped the camera back into Chase’s pocket. "Well, you had to learn from someone."
House stole a chip from Wilson’s plate as he dropped a fry onto Chase’s plate. "I learned from you?"
Chase quietly put the fry onto Wilson’s plate as he watched the other two.
"Most have. I’m much more evil than you." Wilson took the fry and put it back on House’s plate. "Just because I choose to be less visibly evil doesn’t mean anything."
House popped the returned fry into his mouth. "Oh, I don’t know I’m betting Chase can give you a run for quietly evil."
"How do you figure that?" Wilson watched as fries passed back and forth between the other two.
"Mostly because he put something in Cameron’s coffee this morning. You didn’t think of that."
Wilson wasn’t going to admit to having thought about what would be the most memorable should he give in to the temptation. "What you put in it, Chase?"
Chase ducked his head a little. "Nothing harmful."
House snorted. "She turned green and spat it out."
"She said I was stupid for staying with an abusive partner. I got upset." Chase brought both his hands down into his lap.
House and Wilson exchanged a look. House turned back to Chase. "Hey, I didn’t say you shouldn’t have. I just said she turned green." House plopped another fry on Chase’s plate. "It was a pretty green too."
Chase smiled. "Looked grayish green to me. It was just a little flavoring extract."
"It looked like you poured in half the bottle, but I didn’t get a good look at the overall size."
"The bottles are only so tall."
Wilson watched as Chase spread his thumb and finger about three inches apart. "How much are you supposed to use?"
House grinned. "About three drops, upwards of five."
Chase nodded. "I didn’t actually mean to dump in so much, but I was working quickly."
"What flavor was it?" Wilson grabbed up the fry Chase had started to put back on House’s plate.
"Rhubarb."
House snickered. "She once mentioned hating rhubarb during her first week here. Once, Wilson."
Wilson shook his head. "I can see that putting you two together was a bad idea."
House grinned while Chase ducked his head and his cheeks flushed. House took advantage of the moment of inattention to dump more fries onto Chase’s plate.
"Hey! Those are yours. Take them back."
House blinked innocently. "Mine? They are on your plate, they must be yours."
Chase pushed a fry off his plate towards House. "They were on your plate a moment ago."
"They’re yours now. Besides, if you’ll eat them for me I’ll give you a reward this evening."
Chase went completely still for a moment before dropping a few of the fries onto Wilson’s plate. "I’m already having enough trouble without you giving me any help."
Wilson looked back and forth between the two men. "What trouble?"
Chase squirmed in his seat. "It’s not that important."
"Well, if you’d ju…"
"Wilson. He’s hard."
"Oh." Wilson blinked. "Oh!" Wilson dropped his head a little as his smiled. "So, what’s the reward if Chase eats your fries, House?"
House shrugged. "Freedom to look at me."
Chase’s eyebrows rose. "All of you?"
House nodded. "Not touching, but you could look."
Chase smiled. "Okay." Chase concentrated on his food.
Wilson watched him eat for a moment before turning his attention to House. The older man was watching behind them and he didn’t look happy. "What?"
"I think the meth screwed with her head. I swear she was smarter when I hired her."
Chase tensed. "She’s hunting me, isn’t she?"
House nodded. "Looks like it. Just keep eating."
Chase’s movements slowed, but he continued to eat. Wilson resisted the urge to check over his shoulder and watched House instead. House slumped in his seat and kept a hand in front of his mouth. After several long minutes, he straightened.
"She’s gone." House plucked the last fry from Chase’s plate. "You want to work with Wilson this afternoon?"
Chase glanced up from his empty plate. "She’ll just corner me tomorrow if I do."
"True. Stay with Wilson for a couple of hours at least. I don’t want you throwing up just because she’s a stubborn ass."
Wilson stole his forgotten chip back from House. "Part of why you hired her was the stubbornness."
House pushed away from the table. "Should have remembered to install the off switch."
Chase snorted. Wilson and House exchanged smiles as they gathered up their trays.
****
Chase knew that his luck wouldn’t last. He fingered the little crossword book in his pocket. She’s going to corner you sooner or later. There will be yelling and maybe screaming. Chase took a deep breath as he headed down the hall from Wilson’s office. Foreman isn’t always going to step in and piss her off.
Chase pulled open the door to the lounge and sat down in his usual seat. He could see House leaning back in his chair listening to his music with his eyes closed, the connecting door standing open. The others were missing. Chase sorted through his stack of new books and pulled out the Kakuro book. The number puzzles were different, but similar enough to crosswords to be intriguing.
I keep thinking in multiplies instead of sums. And then I keep thinking in doubles instead of different numbers for each row. Ugh. They make my brain hurt. Chase erased a number and wrote in a new one. This is fun. I’m going to like it when I get good enough to work them in pen.
"Chase."
Chase jumped and dropped the book to the table. He looked up at Cameron standing beside him. "What?"
"I’ve been trying to get your attention for awhile now." Cameron frowned.
"So? You got my attention now. What?"
Cameron pursed her lips. "I really think you should listen to me…"
"Enough." Chase sighed and threw down his pencil. "Look, I’m not being abused. I know what that’s like and what I have now isn’t it."
"But…"
"No. Just no. You don’t know my life, Cameron." Chase pointed at the bruise on his chin. "This isn’t because I asked for food or asked someone to help me with a lesson or told someone to stop doing something that was going to kill them." Chase pulled the right side of his turtleneck down. "These aren’t from being shaken like a rag doll or being told how horrible I made someone’s life. They aren’t finger marks. They weren’t forced on me."
Cameron stood and gaped as Chase stood up and towered over her.
"You don’t see past the end of your own nose sometimes." Chase grabbed up his pencil and Kakuro book and headed into House’s office. "Leave me be."
Chase quickly slipped into House’s office. The older man opened an eye and pulled an ear bud free of his ear as Chase closed the glass door.
"I’m closing the blinds."
"Fine." House put his music back in his ears and watched as Chase drew the blinds angrily. "Lock the doors."
Chase nodded and locked the doors before he plopped into the chair across from House. "Sorry."
House shook his head. "Don’t be. She’ll settle down now that you’ve shown a spine."
"Thought you were listening to your music."
"I was. Had Putting on the Ritz playing until you were disturbed."
Chase dropped his head back. "I can’t believe I got mad enough to show my neck to her."
"Hmm. I’m more surprised you told her that many things from your childhood."
Chase leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands. "She won’t make the connection like you did."
"Yes, actually, she will. It’ll be weeks from now, but you’ll see her suddenly freeze, blink, and stare at you."
"Oh, that’s bloody wonderful." Chase scrubbed his hands through his hair. "You’re going to tell Wilson, aren’t you?"
"Would you rather?"
Chase sat back up. "No, I don’t want to talk about it."
"Didn’t figure you did." House pointed at the book in front of Chase. "Liking that okay?"
"They’re giving me a headache." Chase smiled. "They’re great fun."
House grinned and shook his head. "Crazy."
Chase’s smile widened. "Yeah, but you love that about me."
House quickly swung around in his chair. "I need to talk to Wilson. I’ll be back."
"Sure." Chase frowned at House as he left through the balcony door.
****
Wilson wasn’t the least bit happy when he saw House making faces at him through the glass of the balcony door as he tried to console a patient’s spouse. After quickly finishing and herding the spouse out of the office, Wilson turned to find House sitting in his chair.
"What? And move; that’s not your chair."
House just thumped his cane on the floor. "Physical abuse."
Wilson cocked his head. "I thought we’d already decided that."
House explained what he’d overheard between his fellows.
"Damn. He okay?"
"I’ve got him in my office. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he said I could tell you."
"Hmm. It could have waited. What’s wrong?"
House frowned and fingered the handle of his cane. "It’s nothing wrong, not…really. Chase being able to accept that I love any part of him is good, it’s just…I don’t like…" House sighed. "It’s not just because he’s a little crazy."
Wilson pushed on his office chair until House was turned towards him. "He knows that, House. You should be happy he’s comfortable enough to make a joke of it."
House thumped his cane against Wilson’s desk as he dropped his head. "It’s not a joke."
Wilson blinked. "Oh." Wilson dropped into a crouch and looked up into House’s down-turned face. "He wasn’t trying to make it a joke. You know that."
House raised his head. "I know. It just hit a nerve."
Wilson nodded. "Day’s almost over." Wilson pushed off House’s knee as he stood. "Maybe you should talk him into riding home with you."
House grinned. "Cool. I knew I kept you around for a reason."
"I’m sure you have more than one reason."
House leered. "Well, you do have a great ass."
Wilson laughed. "And you are a great ass. Go. Some people actually work, you know."
House made a rude noise and went.
****
Wilson smiled as House let a laughing Chase come in the apartment door. Chase shed his jacket and dropped beside Wilson hard enough to bounce them both.
"Hi."
"Hi; you have a good ride?"
Chase grinned at House’s back as the older man put away his own jacket. "He tried to kill us."
"I did not."
"It was great." Chase jumped up and headed into the bedroom. "I’ll be right back."
House sat down on his end of the couch. "Never again, Wilson."
Wilson tried to keep his grin from showing. "Why?"
"You did see that hyper thing just now, right?"
Wilson bit the inside of his cheek. "Uh huh."
"Yeah, that’s why. He calmed down some between the bike and the door."
Wilson burst out laughing.
"Not funny, Jimmy."
Wilson nodded as he wiped his eyes. "Oh, yes, it is." He pointed at House. "You look just like I feel when you do something insane. It’s hilarious."
House stuck his tongue out at Wilson. Chase reappeared in sleep pants, bare-chested and barefoot.
"Can we have pizza tonight?"
House shared a look with Wilson as Chase rounded the corner of the couch.
"Sure, Robbie. Know what kind you want?"
Chase plopped down between them, making them all bounce slightly. "Yeah. I want pepperoni."
House pointed to the phone. "Jimmy can order."
Chase started to reach for the phone, froze, and then turned his head to look at House. "Hmm…I still get petted even though I know what I want to eat, don’t I?"
House nudged Chase in the side. "You’ll get rewarded. Give Jimmy the phone."
Chase smiled brightly and turned back to getting the phone.
House exchanged looks with Wilson over Chase’s back while he was digging the phone out of the mess on the coffee table. Chase handed the phone to Wilson and turned to House.
"I can explore you tonight, too?"
House raised his eyebrows. "Sure. After dinner."
Chase nodded eagerly. "Okay." Chase stood up. "I’ll be back."
Wilson shut off the phone. "It’ll be about an hour. What the hell is with him?"
House shrugged. "Drugs?"
Chase swung his leg over the back of the couch and scrambled until he could sit back down between them. "No, just really happy."
"If this is what telling off people does to you, I’m going to order you to do it more often."
Chase guffawed. "No. Well, not only that." Chase dropped to rest his back across Wilson’s thighs and brought his feet up to hover above House’s lap. House moved his arms and Chase slowly dropped his legs until House adjusted them to the older man’s liking. Chase beamed up at them. "I’m worthwhile."
Wilson could feel the prick of tears in his eyes and he forced himself to smile widely back at Chase. House patted Chase’s knees.
"Yes, you are, Robbie. You are worth very much."
Chase’s smile got wider and he wiggled deeper into the couch and both laps. "What are we watching until the food comes?"
House waved at the muted television. "Monster trucks."
****
(Part 16)
The prize of mentioning a song House is listening to for
jestana appears in this part.