Analysis: Analgesia (post-ep ficlet).
Feb. 23rd, 2009 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_luminaryTitle: Analysis: Analgesia
Author: dominus_trinus
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen.
Summary: "He knows I'm in pain." Just who did prescribe the methadone?
“Methadone?”
Chase looks up from the cup of coffee he’s drinking in the surgeon’s lounge at the sound of Wilson’s voice, tight with anger. Turns to face him. “He asked me for the scrip. I didn’t see a reason to say no.”
“You—you didn’t see a reason?” Wilson sputters. “You worked under him for four years! You know how reckless he is with—”
“He was in pain,” Chase says.
“He stopped breathing!” Wilson counters. “Dammit, Chase! If he stays on methadone, he could kill himself!”
He’d heard whispers on the grapevine about House’s respiratory arrest, and though it scares him to think of, he also knows he did the right thing. “I don’t want that, either,” he says quietly. “But at a certain point…quality of life has to matter more than quantity, and he knows the risks.”
Wilson moves to sit in the chair opposite him. “He could have died today. He could die next week, next month—”
“The Vicodin would probably have boxed his liver within the next few years, anyway,” Chase breaks in, and Wilson falls silent. “Look. Isn’t it more important that he’s not abjectly miserable in whatever time he’s got?”
Wilson holds his gaze. “There’re only so many people in this building he’d even have considered asking, and Cameron or Foreman would never have gone along. You were a good choice because you’ve never gotten involved with his pain management: not when he was detoxing; not when he was popping pills like Tic-Tacs.”
“He’s dependent.” A pause. He’s seen the struggle over the meds from the periphery, and if he didn’t dare say anything while he was House’s subordinate, it’s different now. “He’s functional—more than functional; he’s brilliant at what he does. If the pills ran his life the way you think, he wouldn’t be.”
“I’ve prescribed for him for years. He admits he’s addicted—”
“He says he’s addicted. Presumably to avoid conversations like this.” He aimed that to sting a little—not exactly fair, but Wilson is working from faulty logic. “The fact that he switched voluntarily to the methadone means the pain was the problem.”
Wilson raises his eyebrows. “And what’s your authority on this? Neither of your specialties has to do with pain management.”
“I don’t need to have a specialty in pain management,” he says, holding Wilson’s gaze. “I wouldn’t have a bloody clue what it’s like to deal with that kind of pain every day even if I did. If this is what House thinks is right…” He shrugs. “He’s a doctor and an adult. I’m not going to tell him what he can or can’t do with his own body.” He stands up, starts to turn to go. “I’m not saying it’s not dangerous. But it’s his choice.”
He leaves the lounge with Wilson’s eyes on his back.
Experience has taught him what addiction looks like, what depression and self-destruction look like, and he knows better than to mistake House’s various mad stunts for suicide bids: if they had been, he wouldn’t have failed. And the Vicodin roulette, the ketamine coma, that time he faked cancer…
To tell the truth, Chase doesn’t much like this methadone treatment, either, but if it does House any good, he’ll put aside his scruples.
Working so long under the man taught him that there are times the ends justify the means.
END.
Author: dominus_trinus
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen.
Summary: "He knows I'm in pain." Just who did prescribe the methadone?
“Methadone?”
Chase looks up from the cup of coffee he’s drinking in the surgeon’s lounge at the sound of Wilson’s voice, tight with anger. Turns to face him. “He asked me for the scrip. I didn’t see a reason to say no.”
“You—you didn’t see a reason?” Wilson sputters. “You worked under him for four years! You know how reckless he is with—”
“He was in pain,” Chase says.
“He stopped breathing!” Wilson counters. “Dammit, Chase! If he stays on methadone, he could kill himself!”
He’d heard whispers on the grapevine about House’s respiratory arrest, and though it scares him to think of, he also knows he did the right thing. “I don’t want that, either,” he says quietly. “But at a certain point…quality of life has to matter more than quantity, and he knows the risks.”
Wilson moves to sit in the chair opposite him. “He could have died today. He could die next week, next month—”
“The Vicodin would probably have boxed his liver within the next few years, anyway,” Chase breaks in, and Wilson falls silent. “Look. Isn’t it more important that he’s not abjectly miserable in whatever time he’s got?”
Wilson holds his gaze. “There’re only so many people in this building he’d even have considered asking, and Cameron or Foreman would never have gone along. You were a good choice because you’ve never gotten involved with his pain management: not when he was detoxing; not when he was popping pills like Tic-Tacs.”
“He’s dependent.” A pause. He’s seen the struggle over the meds from the periphery, and if he didn’t dare say anything while he was House’s subordinate, it’s different now. “He’s functional—more than functional; he’s brilliant at what he does. If the pills ran his life the way you think, he wouldn’t be.”
“I’ve prescribed for him for years. He admits he’s addicted—”
“He says he’s addicted. Presumably to avoid conversations like this.” He aimed that to sting a little—not exactly fair, but Wilson is working from faulty logic. “The fact that he switched voluntarily to the methadone means the pain was the problem.”
Wilson raises his eyebrows. “And what’s your authority on this? Neither of your specialties has to do with pain management.”
“I don’t need to have a specialty in pain management,” he says, holding Wilson’s gaze. “I wouldn’t have a bloody clue what it’s like to deal with that kind of pain every day even if I did. If this is what House thinks is right…” He shrugs. “He’s a doctor and an adult. I’m not going to tell him what he can or can’t do with his own body.” He stands up, starts to turn to go. “I’m not saying it’s not dangerous. But it’s his choice.”
He leaves the lounge with Wilson’s eyes on his back.
Experience has taught him what addiction looks like, what depression and self-destruction look like, and he knows better than to mistake House’s various mad stunts for suicide bids: if they had been, he wouldn’t have failed. And the Vicodin roulette, the ketamine coma, that time he faked cancer…
To tell the truth, Chase doesn’t much like this methadone treatment, either, but if it does House any good, he’ll put aside his scruples.
Working so long under the man taught him that there are times the ends justify the means.
END.
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Date: 2009-02-24 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-02-24 05:44 am (UTC)I like that. It fits very well with Chase's character, especially what we learned during the Tritter arc.
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 07:10 am (UTC)I find it ironic that the people who claim to care, express that by wanting to sabotage any attempt to put an end to the pain.
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 08:45 pm (UTC)I was sad after Halfwit, because as someone who has never been truly happy in a chemical sense, I can understand House's need to attempt that experiment. The fact that they wrote it off as another attempt to get high really exemplified for me, just how isolated and alone House really is. Wilson telling him to get pizza with a friend was akin to telling a quadraplegic to quit bitching and look on the sunny side.
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:02 pm (UTC)I was also disappointed that the real issues in "Half-wit" were swept under the rug: House may not have handled things in the most appropriate way, but it's not as though he could have expected help in that particular scheme. What's tragic is that he felt the need to attempt it because no one understands that what they call drug-seeking behavior is actually the desperation of a man in very real pain.
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, I was hoping to highlight the character differences between Chase and Wilson and how they apply to House.
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Date: 2009-02-24 11:07 am (UTC)Thank you for writing this and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with this.
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 11:42 am (UTC)I find it funny how Chase's detachment has brought him closer than House than anyone else sans Wilson (and even then its really close).
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 01:23 pm (UTC)I love the idea of Chase being the prescribing doctor.
Very well done.
Edit: Oh, and the scene from Painless where House admitted out loud about the escalating pain would also give Chase a reason to prescribe for him.
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 08:53 pm (UTC)Yes, Chase _has_ learned the value of unconventional methods when the usual ones fail, and I maintain that look in "Painless" was significant: he cares about House and would have been concerned.
The distinction between dependence and addiction is something I, too, wish that Wilson, at least, would understand. The fact that House called methadone "heroin without the high" was everything he should have needed to hear: if getting high had been the point, he'd have used heroin. And yes, I think that Chase, of all of the supporting cast, would best understand that in a tradeoff between quality and quantity of life, there's really only one way to go in good conscience. (We saw hints of that in "Autopsy.")
And yes, that's exactly the point: not whether or not House took or stayed on the methadone, but the fact that he was given credit for the competence to make his own choices about his own body.
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Date: 2009-02-24 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-02-24 03:00 pm (UTC)"He says he's addicted. Presumably to avoid conversations like this."
YES!!! Thank you so much for this.
Something very like this *needs* to happen on the show. Wilson is insufferable in his casual and self-satisfied conviction that House is an addict.
I love your strong Chase.
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:06 pm (UTC)I've always believed Chase is a strong character. Many people see him as passive, but I interpret that as a preference to pick his battles: he fights only when he's certain there's a need and it will make a difference. But when he does decide to take a stand, the result is generally quite impressive.
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Date: 2009-02-24 04:53 pm (UTC)*mems*
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 06:14 pm (UTC)Really nice fic :) thanks for sharing!
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 06:47 pm (UTC)I really wish that Chase and Wilson got a proper chance to talk about this in canon. Because while I do understand why Wilson generally reacts to the whole medication issue the way he does (with House often acting so irresponsibly when it comes to his own health, I can't really blame Wilson for being worried about the choices House makes with the meds), it would definitely be benefitial for him to hear another take on it.
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Date: 2009-02-24 08:30 pm (UTC)I like to think that conversation between Wilson and Chase is what happened between, "House is going to kill himself!" and "We were wrong: the methadone is good for him." Because just seeing House shaven and wearing a tie wouldn't have accounted for that; there would have had to be some serious rethinking. And it _would_ have been Chase who gave House the scrip if it were anyone at PPTH: of all the characters, he's the only one who really seems to understand that the pain, not the meds, is the primary problem.
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Date: 2009-02-24 09:17 pm (UTC)I agree completely. But I have to say, no matter what the motivation for it, I love the fact that he did rethink it. It proves that Wilson doescare; he just worries about House. Given some evidence that it is good for House, he's more than willing to support House's choices.
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