Chapter 4, in which Wilson and House both make astonishing discoveries...

Wilson jolted back awake suddenly as someone splashed cold water on his face. For a moment he was disorientated, but the world quickly flooded in and made itself known. He was lying awkwardly on the sofa in his office with Cameron and House's concerned faces looking down at him. Seeing House reminded him of why he had fainted. He took another look to make sure that it wasn't just his eyes playing tricks and realised why Cameron had been reluctant to tell him about her version of House. He was very different.

For starters, there was no cane in sight; instead he was supporting himself on a pair of plain black crutches and the need for these was evident; his entire right leg, up to the hip, was missing. In addition, Wilson could see the the back of his right hand was covered in an old burn scar and on the right side of his neck another scar, or perhaps the continuation of the first protruded from his shirt collar to end just below his ear. He was also dressed smartly (for House). He was wearing black, presumably tailored slacks, as they had been fitted to the remains of his leg, a dark blue (ironed!) shirt and the one similarity to the familiar version, sneakers (or rather one, and it was plain black, as opposed to the garish orange and white that Wilson was used to). One final detail that caught his eye was the gold wedding band on House's ring finger.

Wilson's eyes felt like they were about to come out on cartoonish springs and he almost fainted again, just for the hell of it. In actuality, he cleared his throat, blinked and croaked, "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

House frowned. "I could say the same to you! After all, it's not every day someone faints as I walk into a room. I want to preserve this moment for posterity!"

"House. House..." Wilson didn't know how to explain the situation and looked helplessly at Cameron. She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"You're expecting me to explain this?"

"Please?" Wilson whispered. House was looking really confused by now.

"House, come outside a second," she said and he followed her out the door.

Wilson put his head in his hands and tried not to imagine the conversation going on in the hallway. Was this what Cameron meant when she said that this version was better for House? He assumed that she meant he wasn't in constant pain here, but how much better was his quality of life? He looked like he'd been in the wars or a really bad fire. Wilson dragged his thoughts away from images of a screaming, burnt House and focused instead on the anomaly of the wedding ring. It was very out of character for House; Wilson had assumed that once Stacy was finished, House was done with long-term, meaningful relationships for good, but it seemed he was wrong. Did he have a proper family now; a wife, a dog, 2.5 kids and a picket fence? Wilson laughed at that notion, almost hysterically. He was sure he was going mad. His laughter was cut short by House and Cameron coming back in; Cameron looked relieved and unburdened, House was inscrutable. He crutched over to the couch and sat down next to Wilson, who found the absence of a leg next to him somewhat disconcerting. Cameron seemed awkward; she mumbled something about going to run the next test on the patient and made a hurried exit.

House cleared his throat. "Judging by your reaction when I came in earlier and what Cameron has told me, I am inclined to believe you. You are from some kind of alternate dimension where everyone's different and events have played out in different ways."

Wilson thanked god that House was on his side.

"I hear that in your world things are somewhat worse for me?" House's tone was charged with curiosity.

"Um, yeah, an aneurysm in your thigh clotted causing muscle death in your leg, so eventually they had to cut the necrotic muscle out. You're... well, you're in chronic pain and pretty much can't survive without narcotics."

"Wow. Guess the other me got the short end of the stick. Was I serving when it happened, or had I already quit? Did it get me discharged?"

"Huh?"

"You know, the Marines. Was that what got me discharged?"

"You were never in the Marines."

House looked shocked. "What? But it was my life-long ambition, ever since I was a kid! I always wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps."

"Uh, I don't think you ever saw it like that. In fact, it was because your dad served that put you off the armed forces for life."

House said nothing. He was clearly struggling with this new information. Wilson interrupted the thought processes.

"So, you gonna tell me what happened to you then?" He gestured to the space where House's leg normally was.

"Yeah, sure. Basically, I wanted to be in the Marines, but I was also interested in medicine, so my dad suggested why not combine them and become a doctor in the Marines. I was serving in Afghanistan about ten years ago now when a patrol squad near the field hospital got ambushed. There were about ten men down and not enough left in camp for a back-up team, so I went to make up numbers and perform first aid if I could. We were under heavy fire, but we managed to recover six of the men and I went back for another. Unfortunately, the ambushers had set up some IEDs and one exploded as I got near to the guy. Blew my leg clean off and also set two nearby cars on fire, which is how I got the burn scars. They pretty much cover my back and right side. Anyway, I obviously blacked out and woke up in the field hospital. Soon after I was flown out with the surviving members of the ambushed patrol to recover over here. I obviously couldn't serve any longer, so I was discharged with full honours. I didn't want to live on disability for the rest of my life, plus I've got a family to support, so I got a job here as head of Diagnostics. It's not a very active job, so it's fairly easy and keeps me busy."

"Blimey. That's some story."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You mentioned a family... do you mind me asking...?"

"Of course not." House pulled his wallet out and showed Wilson a picture. "This was taken a couple of years ago. That's me, obviously, that's Stacy, my wife and those are our kids; Joel's ten now, Alex is six and Lucy's five."

Wilson gawped at the clearly happy family; House and Stacy with their arms around each other and their three dark haired children, who all seemed to share their father's mischevious grin and their mother's arched eyebrows. He knew he wouldn't believe this until he saw them all together with his own eyes.