what happened to wilson's brother
(( The first time I had to lay down the whole story of Wilson's missing brother, this is what I came up with. I may or may not change it as I see fit [or, you know, if we get canon answers], but I like having this around for personal reference. ))
"I'll tell you," he said, crossing back to the couch to sit again. "Well, you know the basics. That I haven't seen him in years, haven't had any contact, don't know if he's dead or alive, and don't have any way of finding out."
Wilson looked at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to decide how to tell the story. He settled on just rambling; that was usually how he eventually got his points across. "So... Chris is the brother that you know. He's the middle child. Matthew was the youngest. He was a 'pleasant surprise,' as my mother used to say. Chris and I were supposed to be it; we were nine and eleven when Matty was born.
"He was a ridiculously smart kid, right from the start. I thought he was pretty amazing and I loved him like crazy. He was a bit of a jerk, though, really... He picked up Mom's sharp sense of humor and he saw most of the world as idiots because, he'd say to me, 'Face it; compared to us, they really are.'" Wilson paused to offer House a half-amused and half-sad sort of smile. "If you've ever wondered how I've been able to stand you for so long without any real complaint and why my mother seems to love you even though you're an asshole, there's your answer. It's because you're a lot like Matty was before everything fell apart."
He rubbed absently at one eye and took a second or two to figure out where his train of thought was going from here before he went on. "Anyway, I don't... I don't really know what went wrong. I thought things were going how he wanted them to. He talked to me. I thought I knew him. But suddenly he just ... stopped. He'd hardly ever gotten less than a perfect grade in his life and then out of the blue he was failing everything and got kicked out of law school. He had the perfect girlfriend and he broke up with her with no reason and wouldn't return her calls when she tried to find out what she'd done wrong." Wilson gave House a sharp look that said, Yes, she came to me about it and no, I didn't 'comfort' her the way you probably assume.
"I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but he wouldn't. I didn't push because I thought eventually he'd open up. He was my little brother, I'd always been there for him and he'd always come to me when he needed help before, you know? One day Dad called me and said he'd tried to call Matty and hadn't gotten any answer and when he called the building super to find out if anything was wrong, the guy told him Matty had been evicted about three months earlier and he hadn't heard from him. Apparently he'd been essentially homeless that whole time and hid it from all of us.
"My mother was in hysterics and Dad and Chris never really understood Matty, so it was my job to figure out where he was. Eventually I found him staying in one of his friends' basements. He was strung out on ... something. I don't even know what. But he was a complete wreck. He begged me not to tell, though, and I would've done anything he ever asked me, so I didn't. I told our parents that he was staying with a friend and he'd be fine and they shouldn't worry.
"Sometimes he would manage to get straight enough to go home for dinner or something so everyone else thought he was relatively okay. I mean, they knew he didn't have a home to speak of, but I was the only one who knew about the drugs at this point. And the joblessness. I don't even want to know where he was getting his drug money..." Wilson trailed off for a moment at this point, in unpleasant thought, and then shook himself out of it. "He kept lying and I kept letting him because whenever I begged him to get help he would tell me, 'I'll be fine, Jamie, I'm just stuck in a rut. I'll get out of it, you know me.' And ... I did. Or I thought I did. So I believed him. He'd always been so brilliant and self-sufficient and world-wise. And every time I tried to push him to get help, all I seemed to be succeeding in doing was pushing him away from me. I didn't want that, so I stopped pushing. I tried to trust him and let him take care of himself on his own. I thought he could, if he put his mind to it. I really thought he could..."
There was a faint cough that could either have been an honest clearing of the throat due to the length of Wilson's speech, or a cover for a crack in his voice. "But he didn't. I don't know if he didn't want to or if he couldn't, but he didn't do it. He just went into this downward spiral and by time I stopped backing off, it was too late. The last time I saw him, he'd even been kicked out of his friend's basement. I was married to Laura then, and she flat-out refused to let him stay with us. Chris and Anna had just had Molly, so they couldn't exactly house a junkie. Not that Matty would've accepted charity from Chris under any circumstances, anyway... He wouldn't accept help from anyone, though. He wouldn't go back to our parents, either, not even just long enough to get help.
"So ... Matty slipped away. I backed off when I should have pushed, I trusted too much in his word and forgot about his pride. If I'd done it differently, I could've saved him. But I lost him." There were several seconds of ringing silence in the apartment before Wilson concluded with, "And I'm not going to let the situation repeat itself with you. I'm not going to sit back, do nothing and watch you spiral."
"I'll tell you," he said, crossing back to the couch to sit again. "Well, you know the basics. That I haven't seen him in years, haven't had any contact, don't know if he's dead or alive, and don't have any way of finding out."
Wilson looked at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to decide how to tell the story. He settled on just rambling; that was usually how he eventually got his points across. "So... Chris is the brother that you know. He's the middle child. Matthew was the youngest. He was a 'pleasant surprise,' as my mother used to say. Chris and I were supposed to be it; we were nine and eleven when Matty was born.
"He was a ridiculously smart kid, right from the start. I thought he was pretty amazing and I loved him like crazy. He was a bit of a jerk, though, really... He picked up Mom's sharp sense of humor and he saw most of the world as idiots because, he'd say to me, 'Face it; compared to us, they really are.'" Wilson paused to offer House a half-amused and half-sad sort of smile. "If you've ever wondered how I've been able to stand you for so long without any real complaint and why my mother seems to love you even though you're an asshole, there's your answer. It's because you're a lot like Matty was before everything fell apart."
He rubbed absently at one eye and took a second or two to figure out where his train of thought was going from here before he went on. "Anyway, I don't... I don't really know what went wrong. I thought things were going how he wanted them to. He talked to me. I thought I knew him. But suddenly he just ... stopped. He'd hardly ever gotten less than a perfect grade in his life and then out of the blue he was failing everything and got kicked out of law school. He had the perfect girlfriend and he broke up with her with no reason and wouldn't return her calls when she tried to find out what she'd done wrong." Wilson gave House a sharp look that said, Yes, she came to me about it and no, I didn't 'comfort' her the way you probably assume.
"I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but he wouldn't. I didn't push because I thought eventually he'd open up. He was my little brother, I'd always been there for him and he'd always come to me when he needed help before, you know? One day Dad called me and said he'd tried to call Matty and hadn't gotten any answer and when he called the building super to find out if anything was wrong, the guy told him Matty had been evicted about three months earlier and he hadn't heard from him. Apparently he'd been essentially homeless that whole time and hid it from all of us.
"My mother was in hysterics and Dad and Chris never really understood Matty, so it was my job to figure out where he was. Eventually I found him staying in one of his friends' basements. He was strung out on ... something. I don't even know what. But he was a complete wreck. He begged me not to tell, though, and I would've done anything he ever asked me, so I didn't. I told our parents that he was staying with a friend and he'd be fine and they shouldn't worry.
"Sometimes he would manage to get straight enough to go home for dinner or something so everyone else thought he was relatively okay. I mean, they knew he didn't have a home to speak of, but I was the only one who knew about the drugs at this point. And the joblessness. I don't even want to know where he was getting his drug money..." Wilson trailed off for a moment at this point, in unpleasant thought, and then shook himself out of it. "He kept lying and I kept letting him because whenever I begged him to get help he would tell me, 'I'll be fine, Jamie, I'm just stuck in a rut. I'll get out of it, you know me.' And ... I did. Or I thought I did. So I believed him. He'd always been so brilliant and self-sufficient and world-wise. And every time I tried to push him to get help, all I seemed to be succeeding in doing was pushing him away from me. I didn't want that, so I stopped pushing. I tried to trust him and let him take care of himself on his own. I thought he could, if he put his mind to it. I really thought he could..."
There was a faint cough that could either have been an honest clearing of the throat due to the length of Wilson's speech, or a cover for a crack in his voice. "But he didn't. I don't know if he didn't want to or if he couldn't, but he didn't do it. He just went into this downward spiral and by time I stopped backing off, it was too late. The last time I saw him, he'd even been kicked out of his friend's basement. I was married to Laura then, and she flat-out refused to let him stay with us. Chris and Anna had just had Molly, so they couldn't exactly house a junkie. Not that Matty would've accepted charity from Chris under any circumstances, anyway... He wouldn't accept help from anyone, though. He wouldn't go back to our parents, either, not even just long enough to get help.
"So ... Matty slipped away. I backed off when I should have pushed, I trusted too much in his word and forgot about his pride. If I'd done it differently, I could've saved him. But I lost him." There were several seconds of ringing silence in the apartment before Wilson concluded with, "And I'm not going to let the situation repeat itself with you. I'm not going to sit back, do nothing and watch you spiral."