Intermission - Illigitimate child fic - Yay or Nay?

[kriadydragon]

Next discussion topic - Sheppard has a kid. I've read plenty of such, some I like, some I don't (why is it Sheppard is always given daughters? What's wrong with the occasional little boy just to be different? Sometimes I think it's a subtle way of inserting a Mary Sue.) At the top of my personal "don't like" list is Sheppard with an illigitimate child on earth.

Now, I will admit that there are stories that have handled such a scenario well. I still don't like such stories, but there have been ones that have made the concept rather plausible. The ones I cannot stand are those that make John out to be some kind of dead-beat dad. He knows about the kid or kids, but won't have anything to do with them for some reason. No matter how well handled or intriguing the idea to some, it feels like character bashing to me. I've said it before - John comes across as too loyal an individual to be abandoning anyone, a kid especially. Now, if the mother wouldn't let him see the kid, or if he didn't know about the child, that would make a heck of a lot more sense. But to know about the child but never actually meet it or take a more active role in its life... no way. It makes him off as some kind of coward or creep, which obviously he isn't unless you just really, really don't like him.

Anyways - illigitimate child fic: like it, hate it, don't care as long as there's whump? I just hope the actual show doesn't go that route. It would feel a little too much like recycling since Jack had had a kid.

Comments

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

*hangs head* I'm working on a story atm in which John has a daughter, though she's not illegitimate. He also has a son, but he's adopted (well, so is the daughter, sorta...it's a tangled web...)

Anyway, on to your question, I dislike the illegitimate child route. John doesn't really seem like a casual sex sorta fella, so if he had fathered I a child I think he'd know about it, and if he knew he had a child, he take responsibility for the child...and he would have said goodbye to the child on Letters.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Sheppard has a child fic aren't so bad. Like I said, I've read a few that were good (and this one fic that almost had me in tears, it was so sad.) Stories like yours - where the kids come about in some other fashion besides Sheppard getting busy with a space bimbo - are the kind I'm okay with, and have even enjoyed.

Seeing as how John was married before, I could see the wife, in anger and maybe a few weeks pregnant just as they get a divorce, not tell him out of spite. I think Sholio did such a story (one of the plausible ones).

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't see John as the casual sex type. A lot of people do and it bugs me. It just doesn't fit with who he is, flirty or not. I always get the sense that the man wants to be loved, not make love, but that's just my impression.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

I always get the sense that the man wants to be loved, not make love...

*nods* That's very much my impression, as well.

I can see his ex-wife being pregnant and not telling him, especially if she didn't want to risk him insisting on being present in the child's life, and thus in hers. I didn't really consider that possibility as my imagination spins his divorce as his wife leaving him because he was always deployed or dealing with this and that crises amongst his men and never being around, thus not being around to conceived a child with her. Still, somewhere along the way, I'm sure there would have been a moment, which is all it takes.

[bratfarrar]

can see his ex-wife being pregnant and not telling him

Yeah, this is the only way I can see him having a kid and not being somehow involved in their life. I've toyed with writing this, but I'm not sure what would happen once he found out.

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

I'm not the only one who doesn't see John as the casual sex type....
...the man wants to be loved, not make love....

That's exactly how I see him as well. I try to avoid "John with a kid" stories that has him knowingly leaving them behind while he runs around Pegasus. I don't think that fits his sense of loyalty. For a man that lives by the "We don't leave people behind" mantra, I can't see him doing that.

Maybe if he didn't know (as has been mentioned), I could concede the possibility. But once he found out, he would leave Atlantis to raise his kid. IMHO.

[splitbeak.livejournal.com]

Ya know, I think by sheer dumb luck, I have managed to completely avoid such fics. Could you recommend some of the better ones so I can get a taste?
The concept does sound iffy... I can't imagine Shep abandoning his horde unless they've made it *very* clear they want nothing to do with him. The only scenario that's coming to mind might be if when the kid/kiddies were younger, Shep wasn't there for mom (not viciously) while something bad happened (he was on tour, having a breakdown, saving a war buddy from a breakdown). That could be why he's so bitter about family, but says he does understand the concept.
I think someone would have to put a LOT of thought into one of these fics to make it even remotely workable though.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Sholio did a fic where Sheppard's wife had cheated on him, but had been pregnant with Sheppard's child. She took the kid, left him, and he wasn't able to find them ever again (I think, I can't recall. And I don't remember the name of the fic but it was a one shot for the "Loss of a Child" challenge on Sheppard H/C, so you might be able to find it there.)

I just don't like the idea of Sheppard having a kid on earth, period. Whether he knew about it or found out about it, it would be incentive to either stay on earth or go back to be there for the kid in some way. Plus, like I said, it feels a little too much like a recycled plot from Jack having a kid.

I can't recall the links to the fics. Should I find them, I'll post them. I know Merlin and Kodiak Bear Country did one called "It's about this Baby and These Bad Guys" but I didn't finish it since it morphed into slash.

[bratfarrar]

I just don't like the idea of Sheppard having a kid on earth, period. Whether he knew about it or found out about it, it would be incentive to either stay on earth or go back to be there for the kid in some way.

Exactly. That's what I ended up deciding when I first came down with this particular plot bunny. I could write the bit where he found out, but the question of what happens after? He'd be torn in too many directions. Unless there was some way he could take the kid back with him - though I'm not sure he'd be willing to risk it.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That would be one heck of an angsty story, though. You could have it that the kid is dying, or something. If his wife never told him about the child (out of spite or for other reasons), I wouldn't think the guilt too bad. However, knowing John, it would also tear him up to the point of altering him in some way. The concept is fascinating but pulling it off is going to be tricky. Still, there probably is a way, you just need to find it.

[bratfarrar]

why is it Sheppard is always given daughters? What's wrong with the occasional little boy just to be different?

I've often (well, very occasionally) wondered the same thing. Personally, I think it would be more interesting to see him with a boy. And a little less likely to turn sappy.

[bratfarrar]

(er, sorry for the messed up html)

About the repeat of the main lead having a kid - I think it would turn out being rather different in effect, since the big thing about Jack and Charlie was Charlie's accidental death by Jack's gun. So mostly the show dealt with Jack's struggles to forgive himself. Whereas with John and his kid, it would probably be something more along the lines of torn loyalties - kid vs. Atlantis.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Even spun differently, a lot of the fans would still be ticked, thinking the writers too lazy to try something more original. In fact, I think that very matter was discussed after the revelations given on Sunday about John being married. There was a lot of concern of him having a kid. However, on Childhood's End, he clearly states that he has no kids.

Unless, of course, he didn't know. Still, if the writers went in such a direction, a lot of fans wouldn't be too happy about it, feeling it something akin to a cheesy knock-off.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

It's just a theory, mind you, but I suspect he's usually given daughters cause the story is usually being written by a woman, though in some cases there are probably other contributing factors. In my case, I am using my niece and nephew for reference -- my niece is the right age for the older character, so that one is a daughter, and my nephew is the right age for the younger character, so he is zee boy. I expect I'd have leaned that way anyway, though...

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on that. But I still hold to it being, in many cases and my opinion, another form of Mary Sue. I've ran into a lot of stories with John's daughter being curly haired and so adorable it's actually sickening.

There in also lies the difference. You sound like you're putting a lot of thought into the kids of your story. The stories I've run into, the kids are rather generic (most stories, not all).