Story: What shall I do with his favorite things ....
Author:
bobsyeruncleRating: all ages
Wordcount: 1,120
Author’s Summary: A friend of Steven's returns a borrowed toy. COE missing scene.
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness, Alice Carter
Recced because: I have a personal affection for
bobsyeruncle; she and I share generational similarities, and a love of family, born, found, or made. I think the latter often shows up in her work. I also love her work because it is unsparing, whether in its clear-eyed insistence on seeing issues like race in the Whoniverse, or the difficulties of love and connection with people who have wronged us. It is also full of love. In this story, strongly and cleanly written, she observes the grief of a mother and grandfather in the unimaginable wake of Children of Earth and provides a possible outcome for Jack Harkness and Alice Carter.A taste:
"I’m sorry, just-- Why did you say that, Brandon?”
The woman sighed. “All the children are saying it,” she explained. “ At least, all the ones they tried to take away, like Brandon. I talked to a couple of mothers and they said the same: Their kids dream of monsters ,then of this boy screaming at the monsters, scaring them away--Oh, please don’t cry, Miss… I knew this was a bad idea.”
“No, no, please don’t go.” Alice scrubbed at her face and reached out and stroked the boy’s head. “Please, come in. Have some tea, or maybe a soft drink, some biscuits. Please.”
They didn’t talk much.
Alice turned on the television and allowed Brandon to play with Steven’s Wii.
Afterwards she brought out a box of Steven’s favorite books and games, and a few items of clothing.
“We’re not as well off as you,” the woman said. “But we don’t need charity.”
“I do,” Alice told the woman.
