Geekery mode on! I feel the urge to write down my personal timeline for House and my justifications. I'll just keep adding to this post and linking back every time the topic comes up instead of repeating my arguments...



House and Wilson met eight years before the start of the show. That's my argument and I'm sticking to it. So what if they've "only" known each other for ten years (as of this season) - it's incredibly, incredibly likely that much of the depth and twistedness of their friendship began during the infarction period.

Keep in mind there are things I like to believe (like when Wilson married his wives), but I'm trying to limit the amount of pure speculation and the amount of facts thrown out.

Some quotes are approximated, but only until I find the energy to find the exact one. Slightly alternative theory (thanks, tubesox13!) in blue, which I'm beginning to lean towards more...

1994
- House is unable to diagnose Ester (All In) [12 years before S2; also note House went a little whacky on multiple patients after this, so Wilson probably asked him what was his problem, and that is how he learned about Ester]

1995
- Last time Wilson sees his brother (Histories) [Nine years before S1]
- House is hired at PPTH by previous Dean of Medicine ("You're a jerk, I'm a lawyer, there's overlap." If House really met Stacy in the paintball match, it had to be early on, otherwise he would have met her during work.)
- House meets Stacy at a doctors-vs-lawyers paintball match (Son of a Coma Guy) [I'm assuming the strip joint thing was a joke, since he also insisted Stacy was a stripper.]
- House and Stacy go on one date; Stacy hates him (Honeymoon)
- Stacy moves in with House a week later (Honeymoon)

1996
- House is hired by Cuddy at PPTH (eight years before S1, mentioned in Vogler arc)
o House and Wilson probably meet for the first time
o Wilson is either already married to wife #1, or marries her after this point (Fools For Love) [House: You sprinted through 3 bad marriages - so they are each short and in succession; House also mentions Wilson's first wife specifically in Resignation - House probably at least met all three wives.]

1997

1998

1999
- House is fired from PPTH (1995-1999, four years, plus 2000-2004, eight years total, as mentioned in Vogler arc)
- Cuddy, 32 (using Lisa Edelstein's age), becomes Dean of Medicine (or the following year)

2000
- House's infarction [five years ago from the end of S1/start of S2]
- Stacy leaves House after a few months (Hunting, Humpty Dumpty) [House says she switched cigarette brands after a month; he also says "in the last months of our relationship"]
- Wilson steps in to help House, still in rehab (Need to Know, ?) [House says Stacy wouldn't leave Mark in the middle of rehab, Wilson says she left him; Wilson says he "picked up the pieces."]
- House is made department head; alternatively, House is re-hired by Cuddy, who is now Dean of Medicine (Detox) [Cuddy mentions him taking vicodin when she hired him - fanwank that she meant when she made him a department head. Hey!]

2001

2002

2003

2004 (Start of the series)

2005

2006
- Wilson and Julie divorce

2007 (You Are Here)

General
Wilson's marriages were short (probably 2-3 years max), and took place between ~1996 (when he meets House) and 2006 (when he divorces Julie). Marriage #1 probably ended well before the infarction in 2000, so Wilson could have married Bonnie anytime between a bit before that (which I think is a bit more likely) to a bit afterwards. Wilson is already married to Julie at the start of the series in 2004, so he could have married her anytime after the infarction and right before the start of the show.

Fanwank
Stacy used to work at PPTH (Cuddy says she could use her "back here" in Honeymoon); she and Wilson seem to be friendly enough to have known each other before meeting House. So Stacy and Wilson were at PPTH and knew each other, then Stacy meets House. House gets fired again, Stacy probably goes to Cuddy ("You know that genius Dr. House...?" Of course Cuddy does *nudge nudge wink wink* even though Stacy doesn't know that; and I in no way believe House's claim in Top Secret that she hired him because of the sex), Cuddy hires him, House meets Wilson.

The Two Theories
#1 (Black) - House is working at another hospital when he meets Stacy during the paintball match. When he gets fired, Stacy probably mentions him to Cuddy, who remembers him, so she hires him, and that's when House meets Wilson. After the infarction, Cuddy promotes him to department head.
#2 (Blue) - House is hired at PPTH by the previous Dean of Medicine, and meets Stacy shortly afterwards. About a year later, Wilson is hired, and he meets House. After four years, House gets fired for whatever reason, then the has the infarction. Cuddy becomes Dean and re-hires House, making him a department head.

The 17 Year Timeline (Added 8/23/07)
I still can't buy this - it hurts more than it helps, in terms of making sense of the already whacked-out timeline. The only line in the series that almost persuaded me was in Kids when Wilson mentions "every woman you've [House] given a damn about," which only makes since if Wilson has known House long enough to see every woman he's given a damn about - and post-Stacy, well, there were no women.

But, nitpicking...Twice in the series it's mentioned Wilson is paying alimony to all of his wives (the second time being in Housetraining, when Bonnie no longer wants alimony). If his first marriage occurred when he was college-age and was short, it seems incredibly unlikely he'd still be paying out to #1; if his marriage to Bonnie was also short, it also seems unlikely she would receive alimony for so long. It makes more sense if he married them all within the last decade.


Go ahead and try to poke holes in my theories. It only makes them stronger! No, seriously. Go ahead.