Chapter Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8TH, 1997 (00:00 AEDT)
Robert Chase is asleep when midnight strikes and he turns eighteen. It’s pure dumb luck that so is Gregory House considering it’s nine a.m. on a tuesday in New-Jersey.
Waking-up in another body is one weird unexplainable experience but waking-up in your so-called soulmate body next to their significant other is most eighteen years old's worst nightmare. It definitely is Chase’s.
“Oh God, please, please don’t be married.”, Chase moans, panic already rising in his - his soulmate’s - chest as he sits up in bed. He barely remembers to check his ring finger. There is nothing there but it’s far from being enough. He needs to know -
“Greg?,” comes the unfamiliar woman voice and he freezes. Chase watches as she turns around on the mattress, still half-asleep. She is at least fifteen years older than him, making it even more unlikely for her to be some kind of one-night stand -
“What time is it?” Chase swallows audibly, hesitation and a beginning of hysteria clear as he answers : “Midnight… in Sydney?”
She finally looks back at him, visibly troubled when she speaks again : “What - Are you okay?”
Chase shakes his head as the older woman sits up next to him. He looks away when the sheet falls, uncovering her naked chest and bites his lower lips. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I... I’m sorry.”, he adds, openly distressed.
“Greg?”, she extends a hand towards him but draws it back when Chase flinches away.
“I’m not him. I’m not… Him.”, he tries to explain, briefly catching her gaze : “I just turned eighteen.”
She offers no answer at first and Chase closes his eyes, fighting back tears and muttering : “I’m so sorry.” He means it. He saw it happen before. With his parents. Rowan Chase’s younger soulmate had destroyed their marriage. Their family. Chase’s life.
“Is this a joke? You -”, she interrupts herself when it becomes evident Chase is crying, coming to terms with the fact the person next to her isn’t her boyfriend. It takes her another minute to think before she speaks again : “I’m Stacy.”
When Chase re-opens his eyes, ‘Stacy’ has fixed the sheet to cover herself and is extending her hand anew. A small, reassuring smile is stretching her lips.
He feels miserable.
“Chase - I mean, Robert. Chase. Most people call me Chase.”, he says, throat closing as he awkwardly shakes her hand.
She nods and his gaze falls back on his soulmate’s lap. He wants to run but he can’t.
“Listen, I’m really sorry -”, Chase tries again, looking back up and she stops him with a raised hand. “It’s okay. You couldn’t know. I mean legally speaking I am the intruder.”
He frowns at that and shakes his head, his tone curt when he says : “No. You aren’t.”
She doesn’t answer but doesn’t look offended either. Curious, perhaps? “Are you married?”, Chase asks, because not knowing is killing him.
“No. We’ve been dating for a few years.”, she says, without any kind of hostility in her voice. If anything, She even looks amused, throwing Chase for a loop. “You are from Sydney?”
He nods, feeling lame when he adds : “I study there.”
“First year of college?” She looks genuinely interested and it makes him feel self-conscious. She is probably some kind of successful business woman. Nonetheless, he answers her, as casually as he can : “Second. Of Med School.”
Her eyebrows go up and he can’t hold her gaze when she asks : “At eighteen?”
Chase shrugs. “My dad made a deal with the Dean.” He doesn’t like to talk about it. Not that he didn’t work to get where he is but he still went through Pre-Med in weeks rather than years - which, he knows, and so does his father, he wouldn’t have had the stamina nor the motivation for. He would have lost track of his goal before long.
“Greg is a doctor too.”, Stacy says, bringing him back to the moment. “A diagnostician.”
Chase almost smiles at that. Of course, he is. It’s like the Universe is laughing at his daddy issues. He doesn’t get to comment as a pager goes off. “Can you -?”, she starts and he hands the thing to her.
“It’s his boss. I’m going to tell her, he is sick, okay?”, Stacy adds. She’s still smiling at him and he still can’t begin to understand why.
“Sure.”, is all he can think to answer.
_______________________________
Stacy has to work. She can’t spend the day with him. She orders him to grab a shower - a very awkward experience for Chase, who can barely look at his soulmate body, little less touch it without being crushed by guilt - and get dressed.
Gregory House is nothing like the soulmate he had imagined for himself. He isn’t a woman for one. Nor blonde and eighteen like his previous girlfriend. That’s not saying the man isn’t attractive. He is. But Chase had somehow deluded himself into believing the hardest part of life was behind him.
Stacy picks his clothes when she finds him struggling. She jokes about his fashion sense being even worse than ‘Greg’s’. He doesn’t know what to answer her and puts on the outfit with his eyes closed.
She drives them to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and chuckles when he asks her if she is a doctor. She is a lawyer. Still, he was right. Successful.
The staff gives him weird looks when they walk into the main building. They can’t know, can they? He sticks to Stacy and his mouth shut, looking around nervously. His steps falter when they pass an office ; Gregory House M.D., head of diagnostic medicine is readable on the glassdoor.
How can they even be a match?
When he looks back at her, Stacy merely smiles and nods towards another office. Chase joins her silently as she knocks before entering the room :
“I’m not here - Stacy?”, says a man voices. It takes another second for Chase to locate him, sprawled on the office couch. The guy’s wide gaze travels from Stacy to Chase with obvious surprise. “House? I thought you were sick?”
Chase is glad when Stacy takes the reins, once again and says : “He isn’t. He is… in Sydney.” The guy blinks and he repeats, his tone incertaine : “In Sydney?”
Stacy doesn’t look affected at all when she answers : “Yes and I was hoping you’d keep company to Chase for the day.”
Chase raises an eyebrow despite his better manners : she wants this guy to babysit him? Not that he looked too busy for someone working in a hospital.
“Chase?”, the guy asks, still confused and Chase realises it may be a good time for him to introduce himself : “Hi, Robert Chase.”, he says, extending a hand towards the guy, who looks at him like he is possibly insane.
“Are you serious?”, he asks Stacy, before finally taking Chase’s hand. “Sorry. Doctor James Wilson.” Stacy nods again and Wilson turns his attention back to Chase, like he is expecting him to look any different. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Imagine Greg’s face when he is going to find out.”, Stacy adds, openly amused and Wilson smiles, still shaking Chase’s hand with enthusiasm. “Oh I am. I’m just sad we are going to miss it.” He lets go before asking : “You are australian then?”
Chase nods and so does Wilson. “What do you look like?”
“Wilson!”, protests Stacy but the doctor doesn’t back down. “Oh come on, Stacy. Don’t tell me you aren’t curious? It’s House we are talking about.”
“It’s Chase, you are talking about -”, she tries but he shakes his head and Chase decides to intervene before the conversation gets a chance to transform into an argument : “It’s fine, I understand.”
They both look at him and he casts his gaze on the ground, feeling as awkward as ever : “I’m… blond. I have… green eyes. I’m athletic, I guess. I surf, mostly. I’m not as tall, though.”
When he takes a glance at them, they are both smiling : Stacy, in reassurance and Wilson, in actual glee. “This is… precious.”, the doctor says.
“Wilson.”, Stacy repeats as a warning. He doesn’t mind if what he says next is to be taken into account : “An eighteen years old australian surfer, Stacy.”
“A medical student.”, she tries again and this time, the doctor seems to take her words into consideration. Almost contemplative when he says : “That… makes sense. I guess.”
_______________________________
House had stopped expecting this to happen.
Not having a soulmate made sense to him and he had - has Stacy. They have been together for something around three years and he likes her well enough. They work together. So he sure as hell doesn’t need some eighteen years old australian ‘mate’ in his life.
When the phone rings, he is so bored, he answers without thinking : “You have reached Robert Chase’s phone, can I not take a message?”
“He swapped.”, a strangely familiar male voice says and House is intrigued despite his better judgement. “Yup. You are?”, he shots back between two sips of beer.
It isn’t even nine in the morning but it’s the only passable thing he could find in his soulmate fridge, which happens to be full of fruits and veggies. Oats and protein powders completed the picture when he checked the cupboards. He cursed Australians and their ‘healthy’ lifestyle.
“His father. Doctor Rowan Chase.”, comes the answer and House stops short from taking another sip of his drink. He sighs. Of course. It would have been too easy. “You wouldn’t happen to be a rheumatologist?”, he asks, flippant.
“I am.”, says Rowan, his tone telling House the other doctor is surprised. Maybe even pleasantly so. “What about you?”
“Oh I’m not that old.” But he is still too old for this. And it inspires his answer when Rowan does ask him about his age : “Too old to wake up in a college dorm. Bed is almost as bad as the ones in on-call rooms.”
“You're a doctor?”, is all Rowan says. Guy has his priorities straight. “I’m a diagnostician.”, House relents after a bit.
“Have we met?”, comes the next question and House may have already know the other man wasn’t stupid. “I mean we did share an elevator ride back in february but -”, he starts before Rowan interrupts him. “Doctor House?”
“Himself.”, says House, after taking a moment to regret having woken-up that morning. “Or not, considering…” Considering he was currently inhabiting some college kid’s body.
“Fascinating.” House couldn’t disagree more. “Unfortunate, would be more like it.”
At that he hears a light chuckle from the other end of the line. “My son isn’t good enough for you?” Rowan doesn’t sound offended, merely amused, for some reason. House isn’t about to look that particular horse in the mouth.
“Blond surfer heir aren’t really my type.”, he says, not without sarcasm. It’s only half-true. He would never go out of his way to date one but Robert Chase was definitely not hard on the eye. Hell, he was painfully pretty for a ‘boy’. And he was also twenty years younger than House.
“What about young genius and future doctor?”, Rowan asks and House bits his lips - Chase’s very pretty lips. “What’s the catch?”
Another chuckle. “My son can lack motivation and discipline at times.” House can’t help but snort. “Of course he does. People that are that pretty don’t usually need to use their brain.” Shit.
Rowan hms before he finally asks : “What are your intentions?” House makes a face and finishes his beer before he answers. “Taking a fifteen hours nap and denying any of this ever happened.” After a bit, he adds : “I’m not about to move to Australia if it’s what you are worried about. It’s way too sunny and people are way too healthy.”
“It is yours and Robert’s call, Doctor House. Also I must admit I do hope my son will choose to focus on school and his career, at least for now.” House is going to need another beer after this. Hell he wishes he could get a stronger drink. “I sure will.”, is his final answer and he means it.
_______________________________
When he wakes up the next morning, House finds himself on his couch, in his living room, which is a relief. Stacy is nowhere to be seen but Wilson hovers over his head almost immediately, a stupid smile on his face. “So?”
“So I mastered time travel.”, House says as he gets up to walk away.