At first I was going to label this story as humor, but I reconsidered since I felt that might be a little misleading considering the turn-about at the end. I actually was going to end it one scene earlier at the balcony, which had even more of a punch-in-the-gut feeling.

In my mind, Rodney was definitely leading that conversation to where he wanted it to go. It's way too big of a thing for him to deal with immediately, especially since at this point he still hasn't patched things up with Jeannie. But yes, poor John.

I wanted to try and end on a higher note, but... it's a complicated sort of mess. I think the boys will eventually get to that point, but it'll take some time, especially since they both have so much family baggage.

Glad you enjoyed, even if I sort of knocked the wind out of you with the ending!