Date: 02 Jun 2013 04:01 Title: Chapter 27
And so everything has gone back to normal. Well, pretty much normal. The family manages to get to the hospital all right, the weird storm has dissipated, and Q and Joy/Lady Q are enjoying the show. Amazingly, certain things happen again in the timeline that happened before. It was nice to see Malcolm just about break down here, as I can imagine him being like that post-birth. Joss’s gift to his brother of the green dinosaur (which performed so bravely in the previous chapters) is a sweet touch, but this chapter really centers on Forgiveness, something that was taught to Q by Lili and now, in a cool reversal (hey, there’s that word again, hmm … ) Q is going to help Lili out with it.
Doug’s pleas about not telling the awful things from his past are sincere and heartfelt. I don’t blame him one damned bit for wanting to keep it all locked away because he’s had so much time to feel guilty over it that I know he’s thinking that the worst possible thing will happen to him, that he will lose his wife and his children, that his happiness he discovered by a fluke of chance will evaporate before him.
But the things Q showed Lili are still there in her, in a small way, and she’s convinced him otherwise and she knows forever means Forever. It does for all of them. Malcolm’s bit at the end, about now having a brother, is a touching one that shows just how much these men are family to one another and they family to everyone else.
Author's Response:
They have to mean something to each other - they all do - or the whole mad scheme just falls apart. Doug has to know that everybody loves him, and that he is secure, before he can finally open his mouth.