Fic: Two Sides to Every Story by skeddy_kat (Amnesty 2008, Family)

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Title: Two Sides to Every Story
Author: skeddy_kat
Words: About 500
Rating: PG
Summary: Dave Sheppard thinks about his brother.

Notes: This is what happens after watching "Outcast" too many times. Many thanks to kimberlyfdr for her lovely beta. All remaining mistakes are because I’m a compulsive changer.



My brother is an asshole; walking out on us so he could live his own life and never looking back. He'd been gone almost ten years when he blew into town for Dad's wake. Of course he didn't stay. John never stays.

I was surprised to see John walking across the lawn the day of the wake. He brought reinforcements with him, of course. A big hulking fellow he claimed was an Air Force contractor he worked with. Right. I play golf with several military contractors and do business with quite a few others. Even the retired military tend toward the white-collar sedentary type. As a euphemism, it lacked subtlety. John always liked hanging out on the wrong side of the tracks. Anything to prove he was living his own life – one as different from ours as he could get.

Caught somewhere between glad and pissed off to see him, I couldn't help but wonder why he'd come. I had tried to send him a message a few years ago after Dad's first heart attack. The unit at Peterson let me know that he was unavailable. Yeah, I knew what that meant. If John was unavailable, it meant he was unavailable to us, specifically. Peterson is only in Colorado, not the far side of the moon.

So why was he here now? For Dad? For me? I don’t think so. There’s only one reason for him to show up now; he'd finally decided he wanted his share. Otherwise, why did he wait until the old man was dead? Of course, when I asked, he made it seem like I was the bad guy. I'm the one who stayed, had to go into the family business, take care of Dad, and be the perfect replacement son. And I'm the bad guy here?

John was supposed to follow in dear old Dad's footsteps, but when he declared his independence and went into the Air Force, the mantle fell to me. Suddenly I got thrust into the life laid out for my big brother, and I was never good enough. Dad couldn't even be in the same room with John for more than five minutes without yelling, but he respected him in a way he never respected me.

John showed up late at Dad's wake in a rumpled suit, managed to avoid talking to anyone except Nancy, and then tried to run off without a word. He muttered "national security" like a magical password, as if that would make it all right, even if I believed him.

There was a moment, right before he left, when I think I almost reached him. I keep remembering the look on his face when I told him about Dad's regrets. Maybe wandering around this empty house is making me maudlin. It's funny; part of me was expecting Dad's ghost to haunt me. Instead, it's the memory of two little boys running through the house laughing until they couldn’t stand up.

Comments

[kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help :)

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

You always do. Thank you so much. This is better because of you.

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

Oh, I liked this. Nicely done. Terrific last line.

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. When I watch it, I believe Dave has regrets, too. Especially the look on his face when he opens the door at the end.

[ccmom.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea. Nice job with the other side.

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

[shaddyr]

That's really quite something.

It's nice to see Dave's POV. We know so little in canon about what really went on, and there is so much speculation in fanon about how things are - I like this. A lot.

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

My reaction the first time I saw it was that Dave was unreasonably mean to John. The more I watched it, the more I figured that Dave had no way to really know why John was unreachable or why a mere LTC had to go and save the world. I'm really glad you liked it. I keep hoping the brother could make a new start.

[x-erikah-x.livejournal.com]

This is so lovely. *sighs* I'd love to have seen more of Dave in the show.

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Me, too. I always feel shortchanged by the lack of Sheppard backstory (or sometimes the lack of Sheppard stories) in the show.

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for letting me know.

[anyanka-eg.livejournal.com]

I can totally see them laughing together as kids. All skinny legs with scabby knees and dirty hands. It's a brilliant picture you painted.

It's a shame Dave can't know what Sheppard does, that they'll never sit down and really talk. I know he went back at the end of the episode but you just know they didn't really talk.

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

I really hope they laughed together as kids. In my little world they did.

Yeah, Dave has to be pissed off with only the information he thinks he knows to go on. I think they started mending some fences, even if they couldn't completely clear the air.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love reading stories about the Sheppard siblings :)

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Me too. I want more stories where the Trust kidnaps Dave because they think he might have the gene and John (with the help of his team) comes back to help find him. Then Dave gets to meet all of John's "civilian contractors" after he's rescued.

[tielan]

Of course he didn't stay. John never stays.

This line just about broke me. I love the bitterness of Dave's tone throughout the story. It makes sense that he'd see John as the one who ran off to play while he had to be the good one, the responsible one. And that's gotta sting.

Well done!

[skeddy-kat.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I think that line sums up the way Dave feels. He might need some hugs as much as John. (I wonder if he take them better than John does?)