fic: Changeling

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Title: Changeling
Author: seekergeek
Rating: G
Characters: John Sheppard's parents, John Sheppard
Spoilers: none
Warning: unbeta'd. Please concrit.
Disclaimer: Owned by someone who isn't me. No profit made here.
Author's note: Contemplating this challenge I started to wonder, what if the Ancients were the basis of the tales of the Sidhe? This resulted.
Summary:

Maureen McIlroy was raised on her Granny's tales from old Ireland.

 

Maureen McIlroy was raised on her Granny's tales from old Ireland. Tale after tale of the heroes of old, of Cuchulainn and Finn Mac Cumhail. And tales of the tricksters, the  Fair Folk, roaming the land, stealing unwary young men and women into their Otherworld, favoring the fair. She was taught, and taught well as she sat by her Gran night after night listening to the tales of old. It was a pity she hadn't listened.

 

Maureen was a modern woman. She was born and raised in America, land of the free, home of the brave. Not for her the leaving of fresh milk on the stoop to placate the house brownies, no. There was working at the bank and Chinese take-out instead. She lived her modern life and teased her much younger sister for being a hippy and communing with the trees instead. A throwback to Granny, she called Lisa as they braided each other's red hair as they watched tv.

 

She met William Sheppard at a party, looking like one of the the Tuatha de Danann, so big and so blond, a hero of old. She danced the night away with him, laughing and free. He courted her, old-fashioned, and her mother and grandmother were charmed. Lisa moaned about him being military, but in the end, was won over as well. The wedding was huge, and the dance floor heaved with blonds and auburns.

 

She thought her life to be nearly complete, her own fairy tale come true. All that it lacked was the patter of little feet. She was sure that would come in time as well. Wasn't that the way fairy tales ended, after all? 

 

 The years sped by, and Maureen became friends with despair. Her life with William was wonderful except for that one thing that ate at her heart with black bile. She longed to see a child with her hair and William's eyes toddling amongst their relatives at the family gatherings. What she got was year after year of aching emptiness.

 

One night, as she lay dreaming, weeping over an empty cradle, cursing God, he came. His dark unnatural beauty limned with light, he asked her, what would you give, to bear a child of your own? Anything, she replied foolishly and he smiled as the light burst out of him in ropey strands to touch her. She jerked awake, shaking, but could not remember what woke her when William asked.

 

Maureen goes in to the doctor, thinking she has the flu. Surprised, she rejoices at the news the doctor gives her, and William wept tears of joy when she tells him. Together, they make plans, pick names, dream of a child with her russet hair and his broad chin and blue eyes. Moira if it is a girl, they decide. John if it is a boy.

 

 The pregnancy is hard at her age and the delivery room is chaotic as the infant exhibits fetal distress. Maureen panics as she goes under the anaesthesia, thinking that Granny should be there, guarding the baby. She wonders then why she thought that, then she is awakened from the emergency caesarean to the good news that her infant son is doing well. She dismisses her fear as silliness. Until she sees him.

 

Maureen watches the unnatural creature as he plays with his toys, William ignoring them both behind the newspaper. Dark, cow-licked hair over pointy ears and chin, thin and waifish where the Sheppards and McIlroys have always been broad and sturdy. Odd, muddy green eyes looking bemused at the world, too smart for its own good.

 

Changeling. she thinks bitterly.

Comments

[rhianona]

ooo this is a nice and slightly creepy take on John's origins. very nicely done though.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed. I seem to be the queen of slightly creepy fic because I get that comment a lot about my fics that aren't written for laughs.

[sobelle.livejournal.com]

I don't read much gen but your premise intrigued me and I'm glad I stopped in. Yep, nice old world fear and dismay.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

I appreciate you stopping in even though it was gen. The Ancients have always struck me as being as cold and capricious as the Sidhe.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. Well done. Thanks.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Appreciate you taking the time to read it. Thanks!

[seratonation.livejournal.com]

cool :D I don't know what a changeling is, but I love how it almost read like a fairy tale.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you! Just so you know, the story behind changelings is that the Fair Folk would kidnap unbaptised human babies (and they had a preference for the fair ones) and leave in their place one of their own babies for the human parents to raise. I blame whole idea on Joe Flanigan's ears. *grin*

[tzi.livejournal.com]

Ohh, yes. *purrrs* Changelings make me SO happy. John-the-Changeling makes me even happier.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

*beams* Glad you liked!

[saphanibaal.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. And whether he's a true changeling or like Merlin (as the description of Maureen's bargain might suggest), he'll grow up under the disabled child's curse; without a parent's love, bound up as they are in mourning the child lost.

(It's spelt "caesarean," by the way.)

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Thanks for catching the misspelling. I'll go fix. The changeling scenario is yet another good explaination of why John is so odd.

[sgafan33.livejournal.com]

Aww, our boys didn't have a lot of love when they were growing up, did they? Well, it was the kind of mission where you'd end up with the misfits and those who thought they weren't leaving behind much on Earth. Or the ones like Carson, who's heart is so big, he can't stay behind when there's work to be done.

Good story. Thanks for sharing.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked. Thanks for the wonderful feedback.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Thanks for taking a walk on the gen side. *grins* Glad you liked!

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

Oh, my heart breaks a bit for poor changeling John--his mother made the bargain, and can only refer to him as "unnatural" and "it". *winces* Well told.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Ah, but bargains are tricksy things when you're dealing with the Sidhe (or the Ancients). I'm glad you liked.

[burningchaos.livejournal.com]

I love this. I'll have you know I was raised on those stories as well. My great-grandmother was a wonderful story teller.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

I remember my great-grandmother reading me fairy tales like this as well. I think they spurred my love of science fiction and fantasy. Glad you enjoyed it!

[akacat.livejournal.com]

Oh, very cool. This explains the ears and the gene so well!

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked!

[hugglewolf.livejournal.com]

I'm not up on what the Sidhe are, but I really liked this. Poor John, getting blamed for something that's not his fault. No wonder he keeps himself distant.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

The Sidhe is the Irish name for the Fair Folk or fairies. I'm glad you liked!