as_damaged: (//you can't be that good a person)
Allison Cameron ([personal profile] as_damaged) wrote2008-02-04 04:38 pm

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[ooc: you know the drill, if you need her and there's no recent post &c &c. whatever. ♥♥♥]

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-09 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Which he hates, and the line that works its way into his forehead accentuates the point.

"You're living somewhere the conditions turn apocalyptic around once every fortnight. There's someone else in the city who... doesn't much like you right now, probably fairly, but being aware of that doesn't get her out of your head. It's a rough day, giant birds or evil sheep or whatever. You know she'll be pissed if you just show up to walk her to work. Is calling fair?"

Well they both get enough metaphors thrown at them at work, he might as well make this one entirely clear. Leaning against the door frame for want of somewhere to sit, he tries hard not to close off his own expression in anticipation of a bad response.

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-09 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
The way she puts it is something he can't quite pin down. A call doesn't equal safety unless it's followed up. Perhaps he was wrong on the one thing he thought was a certainty: that she wouldn't want to see him. He raises his eyebrows and tries a quiet trade of truths, though it's up to her to reciprocate.

"I used to get one of your staff nurses to call me when you got in every day."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-09 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Probably." He agrees, exaggeratedly startled expression confirmation that he knows it's a joke. He's going along with it. Even if there might be just a grain of truth in the suggestion - he prefers to think of it as being persistent. He's always had to be.

There's a sandwich based gesture of things he'd like to express but can't, and it probably scatters crumbs over her carpets. Hell, in for a cent, might as well throw in the full dollar. "I'm not very good at backing off from some things. Not completely. Not when they're important."

And, because she'd gone light and he'd switched things- "At least I haven't started paying the porters to hide in your bushes."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-09 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
He may not understand how many, but he does know that he's been given more than a few, and that in each case he's broken the terms of his probation. She's an idealist. It's why her working for House is so insane, and also why, he suspects, she's never completely given up on him as keeping some kind of compassionate soul buried under the bitter genius. Chase isn't sure how far he agrees with that yet, but it leaves him feeling like his own case can't be beyond redemption.

"People are going to keep screwing up. As long as you're spending time with humans and not the robots in the operating theatres, the one thing I can promise you is that's going to happen to you a lot. But... the ones who keep trying. Who want to do better, if they can. Aren't they worth letting back in, even a little?"

It's been months, and it's taken monsters to bring him to the point of being able to ask this. To be sure he can't just step back completely and give her the peach she so often seems to want from him. It could just be another flaw in his nature.

"Even if it's just getting a drink together once a fortnight and talking about patients behind their backs."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-10 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I've never... completely... known what you wanted." he tells her, speaking of his own shortcomings in failing to figure it out. The few moments where both their wants have met have been startling and intense but, from the first drug-tainted time, left him confused as hell in the few days after. He's too prone to assuming, rather than asking. Maybe she's not prone enough to spelling things out in the simplified phonetics necessary. Either way, he's sure there have been connections they've missed because one of them way looking the wrong way and the other didn't call out in time. Working over 'could have beens' isn't why he's here.

"Listen, why not one drink. Two weeks time. If it sucks you can cut your losses and all you've lost is one crummy night talking to a colleague. We've all had those. One, casual drink." He bites his lip, "And I get to call you on days you might get eaten-- unless you want to check on me, instead. I do have more meat on me."

Hopeful. There it is again.

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-13 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
"I will." And she can be assured of his timekeeping on that. For all that he'll shirk extra work where he can, Chase's level of precision is second to none. It just depends what he's categorised as worth paying attention to.

He relaxes, a little, taking a step inward to stretch his legs, and finishing off the triangle of sandwich he's started in two easy bites.

"Can I ask you another question?"

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-14 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's your prerogative." Chase quirks an eyebrow at the response, but lets it go. He's not playing a game anymore.

"I wanted to know your most memorable case we've worked on. Or... most important? Not here, back at home."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-16 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Interestingly, the first name in her mind is the one he'd hoped she'd say, although he wouldn't count it as his own most memorable patient. He remembers being willing to go along with House, though.

"I've been thinking... and I'm not sure I'm at the end of the thought process yet. About whether we've got it wrong, trying to treat patients here the way we were expected to at home. Maybe we need to take different circumstances into account more than we do."

He folds the card back over his sandwich box and puts it down on the nearest free surface, essentially abandoned. Something that probably drove her crazy in the brief time he lived with her.

"So I was just wondering what had been important to you, there."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-16 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Chase has broken into a couple of apartments for the benefit of medical science since they've been here, but she's right. The pressure of the job now comes from curses that turn apocalyptic, not individuals on the brink. Though there are patients like that, there's also magic in this world and other aspects that render their help secondary.

"Saving people is what I'm thinking about, in a way. Can I talk to you when I'm further along? I don't want to bring it to House until I'm sure I know what I mean."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-19 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
He nods. Her reaction, when he does get to discussing it, probably won't either be completely or initially favourable. That's what makes her the best person to ask. They have such different standpoints that somewhere in the middle there might just be a balance.

"I'll send you a link to a patient file, soon. I just want you to tell me how you'd proceed with treating him based on what's available here."

I hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

[identity profile] worksmart.livejournal.com 2011-04-22 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you."

He pauses, bites his lip. If there was anything else to delay things here a while, he'd be trying it right now.

"Well, that's what I came to ask. Guess I can leave you alone, now. Unless there's anything..?"