DISCLAIMER: House is not mine.
STACY WARNER
Stacy.... there was a giant hole in House's leg to show just how Stacy impacted upon House's life- and it definitely was not for the better. What wasn't so easy to find, or to cover up, was the giant hole she left in House's ability to love and trust other people.
Stacy was his first love, he was more than able to admit that. Five years, and most of them happy, House supposed, being no great measurer of happiness. Stacy had seemed like his perfect match for the longest time. She was sarcastic, career driven and like him, had no desire and saw no need for marriage or children. She understood that House was House, and she couldn't change that. For the first time, perhaps ever, House had found himself able to open up to someone, not be afraid to talk about such emotions as love.
And then... there was the infarction. Three days, and Stacy had shattered his trust in other people, and convinced him that love was unneeded, unwanted and unnecessary. House had trusted her, literally put his life in her hands. She had known he didn't want the operation, but as she told him repeatedly in the last few, failing months of their relationship afterwards, "Because she loved him" she had made the call, against his wishes, and changed his life as he knew it.
And then after, there was just so much guilt. It hung in the air, and House could see that although she was trying to act normal, she could barely look at him. And she could never bring herself to touch his leg. At first there was the excuse of not wanting to cause him any pain; but after a few weeks, that excuse didn't work anymore. She encouraged him to do rehab on his leg, but once she stopped believing that he could do it, House could hear it in her voice and what little motivation he'd had for it to begin with had vanished.
It was a fair call to say that House blamed her. For the infarction, for the cane, for the Vicodin addiction. And when she'd finally left, he blamed her for that too and his inability to open up to anyone else.
And then suddenly, five years later, she'd waltzed back into his life, complete with the husband she'd said she never wanted, never needed, but now wanted House to save his life.
House had done his best to leave an impact on hers and Marc's life. If she was going to come back, it was the least he could do. To this day, he had no idea if Stacy and Marc's marriage had survived their stay in Princeton; but he hadn't given it much thought since she'd left.
House admitted that Stacy's return had thrown him for a loop. His life was carefully split into two categories: BI (Before Infarction) and AI (After Infarction). Stacy, for the most part was very much BI, and the short part of their relationship AI, House didn't count, given that he spent most of that time pushing Stacy away. And then suddenly, AI, she had reappeared.
House knew Stacy had loved him, did love him, and he knew now that they weren't as right for as each other as he'd once thought. How had she put it? "With you I was lonely."
Even BI, House had been, and always been, a very closed person. With Stacy, because he loved her, he had made an effort to open up more- it just wasn't enough. After she left, even when he met someone else, he put very little effort into communication. He wasn't willing to go through that again.