Yay!! Final chapter!! Whee!! Lol, okay I really wanted to make this longer but I have no more ideas for how I want to continue it so I'm leaving it as is for now :D Anyway, there is gratuitous man cuddling in the chapter so if that weirds anyone out I'm sorry; it's not meant to be slashy or anything, more along the line of father/son, mentor/student, platonic man cuddling. Whee!!

Thank you all so much for keeping up with my story, it really makes my day!! Hope you like it!!

"Come on, blondie, the bedroom's not that far." House chided, nudging Chase forward. "In fact I can see the bed from here."

Chase muttered something under his breath and stumbled through the hall, tripping and landing just short of the bed.

"Wow, you really are pretty useless right about now." House commented, rifling through a few drawers and pulling out a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt, tossing them to the collapsed doctor. "You're lucky I have no intention of taking advantage of you."

"Bite me." Chase mumbled, wiggling into the boxers without ever exposing himself. The lack of medication was now making him irritable and the steady, persistent throb in his side wasn't helping.

"Show me where, princess." The older man smirked, snatching the towel away and tossing it into the hallway. "Come on, up. The bed is calling."

Chase managed to pull himself onto the mattress and winced as the shift in weight put pressure on his side. House knelt next to him and examined the stitches closely, poking at the tender area with his fingers. The younger man inhaled sharply and clenched his jaw, his face contorting in pain.

"Alright, alright." House waved his hand absently and tossed the crumpled comforter to Chase. "Where's your first aid kit?"

"Kitchen."

"Gotcha. Stay put."

"Brilliant plan."

"Shut up." House turned and limped his way back through the living room and into the kitchen. After a few minutes of searching, he located a small first aid kit sitting on top of the refrigerator, nearly hidden by a stack of paper bags. Not sure what the bags had to do with anything and too tired to really care, House grabbed the first aid kit and headed back for the bedroom.

Chase was already fast asleep when he returned, his damp hair falling across his face in dark gold tendrils. The older man suppressed a smile and set the first aid kit on the night stand next to the bed.

He pulled out a gauze pad and a roll of tape and carefully placed it over the wound. Truth be told, House had no idea why he was being so nice to Chase but it seemed like this was the first decent night of sleep the younger man had had since the accident. Working quietly and carefully, House managed to wrap the wound without waking his sleeping charge. House stood slowly, adjusting the comforter a little so that it was actually on the bed as opposed to hanging off on the floor. "Sleep well, kiddo." He called over his shoulder, turning toward the door.

He stopped when a hand reached out and gripped the leg of his pants weakly. Turning back to the bed, House saw Chase staring up at him with tired blue-green eyes. "Go to sleep, Chase." He instructed quietly, irritably discovering that as much as he wanted to, he couldn't pull himself away from the younger man's grip. Instead, he sighed loudly and mumbled every mind-numbing, ear-burning, jaw-dropping, nun-blushing curse he could think of. "Scoot over."

The younger man complied and shifted toward the middle of the bed to make room for the other doctor. House mumbled a few more curses and flopped onto the bed, completely put out with the whole situation. "Cuddle up to me and you die." He growled to the barely conscious Chase beside him. When Chase didn't answer, the older doctor assumed he'd fallen back asleep and stared straight ahead.

He managed to locate a thin remote on the night stand and switched on the television, flipping through the channels and finally settling on Ghost Hunters. Watching with only mild interest as the investigators ran around in the dark with tape recorders, House felt something bump into his leg. Looking down, he noticed that Chase had curled into a tiny ball on his uninjured side, his forehead resting against House's hip.

"Hey, you're side of the bed wombat." He grumbled reaching out to push Chase either onto the other side of the bed or off all together. He stopped mid-push though and let his hand rest against the younger man's head, his finger brushing away a few strands of hair that had fallen across his face. Sighing loudly again and realizing the wombat had won, House simply shook his head. "Damn you."

Chase muttered something that sounded dangerously close to "softie" before falling back into an exhausted slumber.

"Bastard." House mumbled back, turning up the volume and doing his best to ignore the sleeping man cuddled up against him. Never ever ever, under any circumstances, was House allowing Chase or any of the other doctors he was forced to be around to take Omnipen. If it ever happened again, there might not be enough room in New Jersey to hide all of the bodies.

Hope to see you all soon!! Loves ya!!

-Layla