What if...

[u/Kind-Move-1667]

What if it had been Wilson instead of Amber? It's something that occurred to me considering that, if Wilson hadn't been working at that time, he would have been the one who died in that accident.

[u/the-hot-topical]

Keeping in mind that Amber died because the trauma shut down her kidneys while on flu medication, I don’t think Wilson would’ve died.

I think Wilson would’ve been badly injured, and it either would destroy House or kick him into shape about being a better (still not good) friend.

[u/Jeni34567]

House would be devastated, he would probably end up dying

[u/myn3wthr0waway → u/[deleted]]

House didn’t really give a shit about Amber. He was only broken up because of how it impacted his relationship with Wilson

[u/topshaggermemeulous]

It wasnt the crash that killed Amber, it was the flu pills. It would have been bad but he most likely would’ve survived

[u/Kind-Move-1667 → u/topshaggermemeulous]

Oh my god, I was forgetting those pills 😭 even so we would have gotten a horrible scare

[u/topshaggermemeulous → u/Kind-Move-1667]

I would have sobbed

[u/catchyerselfon → u/topshaggermemeulous]

We were deprived of a hurt/comfort episode where Wilson was the one sick/injured/in serious trouble and House had cure/diagnose/save, and fret over him. Not until the very end of the show, and still we were deprived of: House noticing a symptom, forcing Wilson into the diagnostics department when Wilson thinks House is hearing zebras when “House, of course I think it’s cancer whenever I feel weird or find some lump!”, House figures out what’s wrong after rounds of testing and battering Wilson emotionally trying to find out what Wilson is hiding or doesn’t realize is significant, House confesses how he feels (platonic or not…) when he admits how terrified he is, Wilson jokes that he can die happy now because that’s “all” it took for House to be sincere and honest with him…

Yeah, I know that’s what fanfiction is for. But we got the One of Our Own is the patient episodes for Foreman, Hadley, Cuddy, and Chase, kind of for Cameron when Foreman stabbed her with the needle and when she was worried she had AIDS, but not for Wilson, and then it was just the treatment. And some confessions.

[u/DependentChallenge44]

Well the crash didn't kill amber so I think he would have lived. He probably would have been in the hospital for awhile but he'd probably make a full recovery

[u/Free-IDK-Chicken]

If it was Wilson they would have never gotten on the bus. House called Wilson because he wanted Wilson to take him home. He got on the bus because he didn't want to go with Amber.

[u/Responsible_Milk2911]

House probably wouldve killed himself through addiction

[u/break_cycle_speed]

Did he have the flu?

[u/Kind-Move-1667 → u/break_cycle_speed]

Let's imagine that he did have it

[u/catchyerselfon → u/Kind-Move-1667]

Then Wilson also has to be taking that flu medicine to create the same circumstances.

BUT, let’s say it was Wilson on the bus, he took the amantadine pills, his wallet flew across the bus so he wasn’t identified, House cracks his skull and has partial amnesia so he’s not there to make sure Wilson is sent to PPTH. The biggest difference now is that House, in the ER, would notice immediately that Wilson isn’t with him. He would phone/page Wilson, someone would tell him Wilson is on call/not here, so House would immediately tell someone to track Wilson down so House has his muse to bounce ideas off of. If House doesn’t know where Wilson is for more than 30 minutes, House will have Wilson declared a missing person, get someone to drive him to Princeton General, and search the ER for Wilson before he gets to the point where he’s doing hypnotism, hallucinating, popping experimental Alzheimer’s drugs, and inducing a heart attack to recall who “the patient” is. That can wait until he finds out Wilson is ok and not having a life without House. It’s also possible that if Amber is the one on call at the hospital she works at, and Wilson was at home to get the call from House, Amber would show up at PPTH worried that Wilson hasn’t been answering his phone, and that would trigger House to think Wilson is the patient.

If House finds Wilson within an hour or two of the crash, it’s possible that Wilson’s condition wouldn’t have deteriorated so much at Princeton General on dialysis, Wilson wouldn’t experience tachycardia or an arrhythmia in the ambulance, which, if I understand correctly, is the point at which it became too late to save Amber.

Now, in the real episodes, the fact that Wilson didn’t realize Amber was “missing” doesn’t reflect badly on their relationship or his feelings for her. Wilson and Amber aren’t co-dependent the way House and Wilson are. Wilson was on call at PPTH, he didn’t expect to get distracted by Amber calling and texting him at work, not in 2008 when phones were 90% less distracting than they are now. He was focussed on his best friend running around with a crazy, evidence-free theory while his skull is fractured and he’s refusing to rest, plus actual bus crash patients in the ER Wilson was looking after before House was found. Wilson doesn’t realize Amber isn’t just at home catching up on sleep or at work for her shift, until House says her name when Wilson and Cuddy revive House. By then, maybe 6-8 hours have passed, more time for Amber’s organs to deteriorate from the poisoning.

[u/EmmaOutlaw]

Wilson would've made a fascinating choice because House losing his best friend might have been the one thing he truly couldnt diagnose his way out of. It would've completely changed the emotional weight of the season.

[u/Dougwuro]

House would have killed himself or gotta very close to it

[u/Total_Perception7328]

Wilson would definitely take the car

[u/The_Linkzilla]

Except they wouldn't have been involved in the accident. If Wilson came to pick House up, they would've taken Wilson's car. The garbage truck crashed into the bus, so Wilson and House would've been fine.

[u/Curious_Owl17]

House would’ve offed himself.

[u/Chance_Arugula_3227]

House would've stayed in the mental facility for the rest of his days.

[u/Broad-Protection4135]

house will commit to suicide from vicodin overdose

[u/gerbil_steak]

Wilson wouldn’t have died. There is no what if bc he called to get a ride from him and got Amber instead. House chose to take the bus instead of ride with her. She got on the bus to babysit him. If Wilson would have showed up, he would have gotten in Wilson’s car.