Title: When Life Gives You Lemons

Relationships: All friendship

Rating: T/M

Warning: Nothing too bad. Mild language I guess…

Spoilers: Season 1

Disclaimer: I am not making any profit from this fan fiction, all recognizable characters belong to FOX and all of the others belong to me.

A/N: Thank you for your kind reviews in both this chapter and the previous one: Ivory Novelist, extrabitter, Germiphobe, Nayvera, Rennie51, Zombie Kitty, evila-elf, and G. Sky.

A/N2: This will be more of a flashback chapter than anything else. The flashback will be in italics. Since we don't really know too much about House's past before the infarction, I've taken to making up my own. Please don't get mad at me. If anyone knows something I'll be happy to make the changes I need to make.

Special thanks: Special thanks to Rennie51 for her input on this chapter. I very nearly didn't post it but she assured me that it was good and that she enjoyed it. Thank you so much for your help!

Chapter 10: History

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

- The Beatles

House's fingers played a new song, a softer one with a light melody. He savored the sound of it and the memory it brought back of when he'd first met Wilson eight years before. Back to when Dr. Palon was head of diagnostics and the hospital was a much different place.

Thirty-five year-old Dr. Greg House sat in the Diagnostics office listening to his boss, Dr. Palon, go on about a boy who'd been brought in with Tourettes Syndrome. He knew about it and let the residents in the department listen.When they were dismissed, Dr. Palon called House back. "We've got med students coming this afternoon to do a turn in our department. You've been assigned to help one along, as has everyone else in the department," she said.

House nodded. "How many are there?"

"Four," she answered. "The one you're assigned is perhaps the brightest of the bunch."

"They interested in nephrology or diagnostics?" he asked, figuring that he would be assigned to help a med student who was going for similar degrees as his own.

"Neither," she replied, a small smile on her face. Of the four residents in her department, Dr. House was the most frustrating and the most intelligent. He was probably the only one that would remain in diagnostics anyway since the others wanted to pursue different things at different hospitals. She thought he was good fun even if he did have a cocky streak.

"How exciting!" House said sarcastically, managing to startle a laugh out of Palon. "What are they interested in?"

"Oncology," she answered.

"Ew," House replied, this time managing to make Palon roll her eyes.

"His name's James Wilson and he's in his final year. He'll probably be a resident here very soon," Palon told him.

"I don't need his life story," House muttered.

Palon snorted. "This is his fourth rotation in the hospital before he's staffed permanently in oncology."

House looked surprised. "So they're going to hire him?"

"Looks that way," Palon confirmed.

House nodded, he was interested in this newcomer now. He raised his eyebrows with a grin. "I can't wait for him to start."

Palon rolled her eyes and walked off. "Don't be late this afternoon," she called over her shoulder as she headed to the elevator.

Later that afternoon House returned to the diagnostics office to see four med students, Dr. Palon, and the other three residents that were currently in diagnostics.

"Thank you for joining us," Dr. Palon said as House walked in to the meeting room.

"A pleasure," he said with a cocky smile and sat down opposite Rekha, an Indian resident who shook her head in annoyance.

"Now that Dr. House has finally graced us with his presence, let's get started. As you know, four med students have been assigned to our department for the last three months of their medical school teaching. Some of them will stay on as residents and others will be at other hospitals, but I suggest you treat them like the doctors they will soon be," she said, settling House with an evil eye before continuing. "They are all interested in working with us from what I can gather so please, respect their opinions."

There were nods from the residents as she said this. They could all remember what it was like to be in their mid twenties and about ready to start their careers.

Quickly Dr. Palon introduced the four students and what they were going to be doing if they passed their exams later in the year.

There was Alexander Swift, a black haired, brown eyed man interested in dermatology; Daniel Wei, a Chinese man interested in the ER; Caitlyn Penton, a petit blond haired, blue eyed girl interested in cardiology; and finally, there was James Wilson, a brownish haired man, with brown eyes and a boyish face, who was interested in oncology.

House studied them and decided that he liked the look of the girl. She looked like a girl who knew what she wanted and being the only girl among the group, she probably knew how to handle herself. He thought she could probably go far in her profession if she was as smart as she was pretty.

He also thought the men looked like they had promise. The Chinese man looked like he was bubbling with enthusiasm and seemed to be interested in everything that was around him. House turned to look at the black haired man who also looked interested, but skipped over him since he found dermatology to be quite boring.

Finally, his eyes landed on his med student and House grinned. The man looked too young to be in his final year of med school – he looked about twenty-two – and he looked a little too vulnerable to go in to the oncology department. Well, that's how House felt anyway.

"I don't want you sending the students out for your coffee," Dr. Palon was saying. "They're here to learn, not be your slaves." She was perhaps one of the only doctors who didn't treat the med students like servants.

House locked eyes with James Wilson and gave him an evil grin which made the boyish man smirk. Obviously James knew who he was going to be working under.

"Go, get to know your students," Palon said. "And check on your patients!" She said the last part for more House's benefit than for anyone else's.

House watched them file out, each med student paired off with a doctor except for James who was looking at House with expressionless eyes.

"Play nice," Palon whispered to House as she walked out of the meeting room and down the hall to her office.

"So you're Dr. House," James commented, making no mistake that he was stating a fact and not asking a question.

"Yup, why? You hear things about me, Jimmy?" House asked with a sly smile.

"From plenty of people, especially the nurses in nephrology," he answered, ignoring the nickname.

"Well, don't worry, I don't bite as hard as they say I do," House teased and saw a grin on the younger man's face. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven," he answered.

"Brothers? Sisters?" House asked.

"One brother," Wilson replied. "Nosey, aren't you?"

House smirked. "Always live in New Jersey?"

"Mostly. Lived in New York when I was a kid, though," he said.

"What part?" House asked.

"Manhattan," he answered.

"How long?"

"Until I was ten." James didn't seem bothered by the questions. He had been told that House was interested in people and was willing to answer just about anything.

"Why are you becoming a doctor?"

"My dad's a lawyer; I figured he'd like to have someone who's able to take care of him when he gets ulcers from all of his cases," James answered with a small grin. "My mom owns a dress shop."

House snickered. "So you're Jewish?"

It took James a moment to collect himself from that comment. "Well, yeah. Why?"

"Your dad is a lawyer, you're in medical school, and your mom owns her own shop." House shrugged. "Isn't that a little cliché?"

Wilson rolled his eyes. He'd heard as much from his brother who was a teacher and the only one to really break from 'Jewish Tradition'. "I'm Jewish, so what?"

"Exactly my point, I don't care," House replied. "I'm not the one who reacted oddly when I asked if you were Jewish."

James scoffed.

"Why oncology?" House asked.

"I think it's interesting."

"Good enough for me," House said and got up to leave, Wilson following him dutifully.

House smiled at the memory. He and James had gotten along really well but once the three months were up and summer came, he didn't see James for nearly two months. He'd run into him on his first day of work in oncology when he'd been avoiding Palon.

"Oh, hey, Greg," James said cheerfully, walking in to the oncology lounge.

"So they hired you," House commented. "Congrats. I'll send you a hooker."

Wilson laughed. "I don't think my fiancé would appreciate that."

House gaped at him. "You're only twenty-seven and you're about to get married? I knew you had a girlfriend but, wow…"

"I'll be twenty-eight next month." James plopped himself into the seat next to House. "So how're things with your girlfriend?"

"We've been dating three years," House answered. "You're friends with her."

Wilson shrugged. He'd liked Stacy but he wasn't quite ready to call her a friend. He thought it was a little weird that she worked at the hospital though. It was sort of like 'Big Brother is watching you' from "1984" when he thought about it. "She's able to handle you."

House rolled his eyes. "How do you like working here?"

"It's about the same as when I was a student only I'm addressed as Dr. Wilson rather than, 'Jimmy'," he said with a glint in his eyes.

"Okay, Dr. Wilson," House said sarcastically, getting up to leave. "I've got a patient."

"Why doesn't Dr. Reddy cover it?" Wilson asked, referring to the Indian girl.

"She left," House answered. "She got a fellowship offer in Washington."

"Dr. Issac?" Wilson asked.

"He's transferred to neurology," House said. "Robinson's gone too."

"I know," Wilson said with a small grin. "He's in oncology with me."

"I'm the only one left. We've got some new residents coming in but I've got a partnership now," House told him, hand on the doorknob.

"Congrats, maybe I'll be the one to send the hooker," Wilson taunted.

House laughed and left the room.

Wilson sat on the couch in his house seriously considering buying a dog. He hated to be alone and he'd welcome a creature in the house, even if it couldn't talk to him. He'd had a dog when he was a really little kid and his brother and his wife had a poodle, but he'd never actually had a dog of his own before and wasn't sure if he was up to taking care of it.

He sighed, wishing that the wave of depression would pass and he could get back to feeling normal. However, he doubted that would happen anytime soon.

Seizing the phone from the table next to the couch, he punched in the number for a taxi.

Wilson arrived at House's apartment and let himself in using his spare keys. He knew that House wouldn't mind if he just came in.

The first thing that hit him when he walked in the door was the sound of the piano followed by House's friendly greeting of, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was…lonely," Wilson replied carefully, wondering if perhaps he should have just stayed home.

House looked over at his friend. "You hungry?" He noticed that Wilson looked nervous and rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to bite you. Sit down, eat my food, drink my beer, do what you normally do over here."

"That sort of rhymes," Wilson said with a wry smile.

House snorted. "Did you take the happy pills?"

"No." Wilson collapsed on the couch. "I don't want meds."

House shook his head. "I gave them to you for a reason, not just so that we could have an addiction problem in common," he said sarcastically.

"I understand, but don't you think it's better if I try to get over this on my own. That way I don't become too reliant on the antidepressants," Wilson said, his voice strained.

"Whatever." House turned back to the piano and started to play another Beatles song.

"I talked to Julie," Wilson ventured after a few minutes.

"She call a lawyer?" House asked, still playing.

"Yeah. We're going to go over paperwork tomorrow. You know, decide which things are mine and which are hers," Wilson said quietly.

"Keep the TV, I like your TV," House said, sarcasm leaking in to his voice. "Of course, keeping a wife would be a little bit better. Then you could keep all of your stuff."

Wilson clenched his jaw. "That wasn't fair."

House sighed. "I know. I'm sorry."

Wilson smiled weakly. "I might go visit my brother."

House grunted.

Wilson decided it was probably not the time to talk to House since his friend seemed lost in his own world. Sighing, he went up to get some food and a beer.

"We're getting a divorce," Wilson said miserably to House one day after work. He'd only been married for ten months but House knew he'd started having affairs after seven of those months.

House sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Wilson said sadly, tears in his eyes. "It's my fault."

"She find out about the hookers?" House asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah." Wilson laughed slightly, almost a choked laugh, and there were tears on his cheeks. "Yeah, she found out about them."