1986

Reilly and Doug were married at the Catholic church her parents attended in Virginia. Greg sat beside his mother and watched his best friend pledge her life to an asshole who only wanted a pretty doctor to show off to his clients. Bitterness consumed him as he watched her walk down the aisle with her dress and veil floating around her. He planned to leave after the ceremony but Reilly saw him walking toward his rental car and called out to him. She stood with the bridal party while a photographer took pictures.

"Greg House!" she shouted. "Get over here!"

He stood for a moment looking at her. Her long red-gold curls flowed over her shoulders. The bodice of her dress showed the upper curves of her breasts. She held a small bouquet of red roses. A sudden breeze blew her veil up and and in that moment he felt his heart break. Slowly he walked across the neatly cut lawn toward her. He ignored everyone and focused only on her. Her blue eyes sparkled and she smiled widely as she held out her hand to him.

"You have to take a picture of us," she told the photographer as she pulled Greg close.

"Put your arm around her," the man told him as he lifted his camera.

Greg slipped his arm around her narrow waist and pulled her close to his side. After several minutes, he looked down at her and she looked up at him. He kissed her forehead, released her and walked away. Silence followed him as he crossed the lawn to the parking lot. He didn't know it at the time but it would be twenty years before he saw her again.

House finished his residency at Johns Hopkins. He applied for his medical license and got a job at Mercy Medical Center. That job lasted six months before he was fired for performing a dangerous, unauthorized test on one of his patients. The patient lived but the administrator fired him anyway.

While looking for another job, he attended a medical conference in New Orleans. He sat at the bar in his hotel and stared at the huge antique mirror hanging on the wall in front of him. An obnoxious drunk stood over the jukebox playing Billy Joel's Leave A Tender Moment Alone over and over again. In the reflection of the mirror, he saw the doctor who caught his attention earlier, James Wilson. He was young with brown hair that flopped onto his forehead, thick dark brows and earnest brown eyes. He no longer carried the envelope House knew contained divorce papers. Wilson sat at a table by the jukebox and placed his order. After about fifteen minutes, he got up and spoke to the drunk swaying to Billy Joel's soulful vocals.

"Fuck no!" the drunk shouted and pushed Wilson back.

House watched with amusement as Wilson tried to reason with the drunk. The drunk cursed at him and as a server walked past with a bottle of whiskey and three glasses balanced on her tray, Wilson grabbed the bottle and threw it. The drunk swayed to one side and the bottle shattered the antique mirror. Then all hell broke loose.

When Wilson along with several other patrons were arrested for fighting, House left the bar and headed up to his hotel room. He got his checkbook from the small safe in his room and went to bail Wilson out of jail. He wouldn't tell Wilson why he did it and the two of them became friends.

House moved back to Boston and got a job at Massachusetts General. He lasted six months there before getting fired for calling the administrator an arrogant asshole in front of a patient.

A couple months later, Wilson called him and told him about an opening at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in Princeton, New Jersey. He told House he put in a good word with the Dean of Medicine, Lisa Cuddy. When House walked into her office, she looked up at him in surprise but recovered quickly. She agreed to hire him at a reduced salary. He took the job because, as Cuddy told him, no one else would hire him.

Each year, Reilly sent him gifts for his birthday and Christmas. At first, he sent her cards back. Then he stopped. In 1991, she sent him a picture of her first child. Sarah Elizabeth Ashley looked just like her mother. Then in 1993, she sent him a picture of Sarah with her baby sister, Jennifer Marie Ashley. Both times, he sent each girl a platinum locket engraved with their initials. Both times, Reilly sent him a thank you note.

One warm summer afternoon, House and Wilson went to a paintball tournament. It was doctors against lawyers. House was creeping along in the underbrush when he felt a paintball hit him squarely in the back.

"Fuck!" he shouted and stood up. He spun around and saw one of the lawyers. She removed her helmet and long dark hair spilled over her shoulders. He stared at her in awe. She was gorgeous.

"You always have to watch your back," she laughed.

He narrowed his eyes and smiled back. Lifting his gun, he shot her squarely in the chest.

"And you should never let your guard down," he grinned.

"Shit!" she said looking down at the bright blue paint on her chest plate. "You're an asshole."

"No, I'm Greg," he told her. "Have dinner with me."

"No," she told him and turned to walk away. He jumped and ran to keep up with her.

"Come on," he said as he fell into step beside her. "You shot me first. I know this great Italian restaurant. I'll pay."

She looked over at him. "I'll let you buy me a burger," she said. "At the concession stand."

They turned in their equipment and went to the concession stand set up at the edge of the woods. House ordered two burgers and then looked at her questioningly.

"I want everything, including extra pickles on mine and onion rings and root beer," she said to the young man taking orders.

House ordered the same minus the pickles. They moved to the side so the other people in line could place their orders.

"You never told me your name," House said as he watched her.

"No, I didn't," she replied.

"You shot me first!" he exclaimed.

She shook her head and a smile tilted the corners of her full lips. "Stacy," she finally answered. Another young man placed their food on the counter in front of them. They took it and went to one of the empty picnic tables.

"Just to be clear," Stacy told him as she picked up her burger. "You're still an asshole and I do not like you. Once I eat, I'm leaving and I'll never have to see you again.

House just smiled and bit into his burger. A week later Stacy moved in with him.