Post by StoryGirl83 on Mar 17, 2011 14:01:59 GMT -5
Extended Scenes
A/N – Be request I wrote an additional set of scenes that went deeper into Brian’s story of finding out what happened to his brothers. In the final chapter of this story Brian found his brother, Geoff’s, gravestone, with some surprises. In these scenes you will find out about his sister’s gravestone, which he looked for after leaving Geoff’s grave and learn what he finds out about his other two brothers, Ethan (born in 1916, to 111 if alive) and Daniel (born in 1943, so 84 if alive). This set of scenes is “official”.
Brian stared at the phone. It looked nothing like the phones they had when he was a little boy and still lived with his parents and his brothers. He didn't remember ever actually using the phone at home. That phone had been for important business his dad conducted or for when his ma had wanted to call one of her friends who had moved away. When he or Ethan had wanted to talk to someone they had just walked down the street, a block or two, or maybe a mile, always depending on who it was, and had visited with that person. Geoff had usually tagged along with whichever of his brothers was going somewhere.
And now Geoff was dead, long dead. And Ethan, who knew about Ethan. Brian looked at the number had written on his hand. Daniel. He'd be eighty-four if Brian had figured it right, but he might be alive. He'd said he'd given his daughter instructions on what to do if he died. And a sister, Lauren, whom had died so long ago that moss had grown over her gravestone when he'd found it. It had been a bit tricky. She was not Lauren Scott. Instead the gravestone had read:
Lauren Scott McGuffey
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother
January 12, 1928- July 15, 1951
Anna McGuffey
Our Angel
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother
January 12, 1928- July 15, 1951
Anna McGuffey
Our Angel
The grave next to it had read:
Marcus James McGuffey
Beloved Son, Husband, Father
August 11, 1924 – October 29, 1991
Beloved Son, Husband, Father
August 11, 1924 – October 29, 1991
Two people he had never known, he had thought then, but he did. He remembered Marcus McGuffey, Marky really, the only child of the neighbors' two doors down. The little boy had toddled after Ethan, latching onto Brian's brother as if Ethan was the greatest thing he'd ever seen. Mrs. McGuffey was frequently at their door trying to locate her toddler when he had wandered out of the front yard while she was gardening.
And now like so many others, that little toddler was long dead, the husband of the sister Brian had never met, the father of a little girl who probably never made it past her first minute. There had been no message with Lauren's grave, but then Lauren had probably not expected to die when she did. He wished he had known her, his little sister. So much time lost, so little chance that anything was left. One hundred years was a very long time. He couldn't believe that Ethan had survived that. He wasn't even sure Daniel could have survived that, but not Ethan. Thinking that was to put too much hope on finding someone who knew him and knew him well.
"You've been staring at that phone for almost half an hour," Ava commented from behind him. "Is it really that strange?"
Brian turned around to look at her. He smiled as he shook his head held up his hand.
Ava took his hand in hers and gently turned it so she could read the number. "Someone gave you their phone number?"
He nodded. "My brother, sort of."
Ava looked at him surprised. "You have a living brother?"
"Maybe." He sighed. "That's the problem. It was listed in a message on a gravestone almost thirty years old."
"You were in a cemetery?"
He nodded. "My family is from this area, so I thought I'd pay my respects if I could find them. Except when I found Geoff's grave there was a message from Daniel asking me to call this number." He looked up at her with barely held excitement. "I didn't even know there was a Daniel and now I'm supposed to call him. And Geoff said Ethan intended to stay alive, but he was only a couple of years younger than me, so he couldn't be. Could he?"
Ava took his hand and turned it so that the numbers faced him. "Only one way to find out."
Brian sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." He reached out and grabbed the phone in his hand. As he dialed, Ava smiled.
"I'll leave you alone for now," she told him. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."
He nodded barely noticing her words as he pushed the numbers on the phone.
"Rummy!" Elaina Scott yelled and she tossed her last cards on the table.
Her husband, John, groaned as he looked at her. "We can hear you, Lain."
Elaina wiggled her fingers against the edge of her ear. "What's that? Can't hear you."
A roar of laughter emitted from the end of the table. John's cousin, Bent Franklyn, was whispering something to their second cousin Eleanor Summers. The laughter did not come from them. It came from their great-uncle, Daniel Scott.
"Dad!" Daniel's daughter, Michelle Peters, protested. "Did you really do that to Aunt Lauren?"
Daniel grinned. "Well, I was only seven and Doris was getting all that attention."
Michelle laughed. "You were jealous of a newborn."
"You should have seen his reaction to Rachel's birth," the raspy voice of Daniel's older brother, Ethan Scott, commented catching the attention of all.
Eleanor, the younger of Rachel's two daughters, cast an amused look at Daniel. "You messed with my mom, too?"
"I was six!" Daniel protested indignant. "Ethan wasn't exactly an angel you know."
"Yes, but Grandpapa didn't start this conversation," Eleanor argued. "So let's hear about what you did to Mom."
It was Daniel heard a phone ringing. "Saved by the bell," he teased as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone, slid it open and put it to his ear. He frowned when he heard the phone ringing, again.
"What day is it?" Ethan asked, his voice sounding a mixture of fear and hope.
Elaina glanced down at her watch. "April 12th, why?"
"Brian," Daniel mumbled as he pulled out the second cell phone from his pocket.
"No," John protested. "Dad's not here."
"Oh, my word," Michelle gasped as she understood what was going on.
"Hello?" Daniel whispered into the phone as he got it to his ear.
"Hello," Brian's voice said from the other side. "I'm trying to reach Daniel Scott."
"Brian?"
"Yes," Brian agreed. "Is this Daniel?"
A look of awe covered Daniel's face, the wrinkles on his face more pronounced as he smiled. "I can't believe I'm actually talking to you. You sound so young."
"I am young," Brian agreed. At least he was physically. "When I found that message on Geoff's grave, I couldn't believe it. I didn't think there would be anyone left who would even know my name."
"Hard to forget that," Daniel chuckled. "Geoff's son is named for you. Besides Ethan and Geoff had all sorts of stories they liked to tell Lauren and me."
"I found her grave, too," Brian commented. "There was another name listed on the grave."
"Yeah," Daniel looked over at his own daughter. "Lauren died giving birth to her and she didn't make it either."
"How did Marky take that?"
"Marky?" Daniel barked out, amused.
"Give me the phone," Ethan rasped.
"Oh, give me a chance, Ethe," Daniel protested. "I've never even met him."
Ethan drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and his head slumped over.
Brian heard the commotion on the other end of the phone, but it quickly lost his attention as a glittering of air formed into a young boy he knew all too well. Tears threatened his eyes and he dropped the phone and ran over to give his little brother a hug. "Ethan!"
Ethan's astral projection hugged him tight. They stood there unmoving for over a minute.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Brian forced out, looking at his little brother. "But shouldn't you be older?"
"I am older, you nutcase," Ethan informed him. "But my body is so old and tired and you'd never recognize me. I wanted you to recognize me."
"But how?" Brian stared at him.
"One hundred years is a long time to practice a power," Ethan teased. "You might want to grab that phone and assure Daniel that I am alive and well. He was started to get on my nerves, should have let me talk to you."
Brian grinned, his eyes suspiciously shiny. "I can't believe you are still alive."
"I had to be," Ethan informed him. "My brother was coming back and he needed me."
Brian laughed. "I missed you so much, Ethe." He pulled Ethan into another hug.
When they pulled apart, Ethan looked at him. "Hard to believe you look so young still. Geoff and I had guesses on that, but there was this girl, Caitlyn Ellis, you remember her?"
Brian had to think a long time before he nodded his head. "I saw her there, but not after the demon was injured."
Ethan nodded. "She said she ran into some kids that had been there a long time, twin girls dressed like pilgrims."
Brian laughed and dragged Ethan into another room. He pointed across the room at the Faith and Charity, dressed nothing like pilgrims. "That's who she met," he whispered, not wanting to involve the girls in his reunion. He pulled Ethan back into the other room and grabbed up the phone. "Sorry, Daniel. Ethan's with me."
On the other end, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. "Tell that moron not to scare us like that."
"You had to know he was using his power," Brian protested. "Even I knew that."
"Any chance you can come here?" Daniel asked. "Everyone here wants to meet you."
Brian looked over at Ethan. "Who's everyone?"
"Ethan's granddaughter, Eleanor, Geoff's grandsons, John and Bent, John's wife, Elaina, and my daughter, Michelle," Daniel replied, understanding Brian's need for information. "We meet ever week at Eleanor's to play games."
"Always at her house?" Brian asked confused.
Daniel nodded, not thinking about the fact that Brian couldn't see him. "Ethan lives with her and her husband."
"I see," Brian looked at his little brother amused. "You live with your granddaughter?"
Ethan shrugged. "When you see my body, you'll understand. I can't walk, Brian. My legs are too brittle, my muscles simply don't work. I lost my wife, my kids. My son never married. Rachel's older daughter only married a few years ago. When I had my accident, Eleanor and her husband offered to take me in." He gave Brian a wry grin. "I never quite got over it."
"Accident?"
"Nothing much to talk about," Ethan protested.
"You brought it up," he was quickly reminded.
Ethan sighed. "Tell, Daniel you'll find a way to get over there and then I'll explain."
Brian picked up the phone. "Hey, Daniel. I'll find a way over to Eleanor's house in a little bit. Ethan can give me the address. Right now, Ethan and I need to talk, okay?"
Daniel sighed. "Of course. Always Ethan."
"I want to know you," Brian informed him, but right now, I need to know how Ethan's life has been."
That Daniel could understand. It was just that he had waited so long to meet Brian and now he was so close. "Call me when you are on your way. You have the number."
Brian laughed. "Yes, I do."
After they had hung up, Brian turned to Ethan. "Okay, what happened?"
"It was back when Geoff died," Ethan announced. "You can't tell from his grave, but he was killed by a demon. We both figured the best way to stay young was to fight demons." He chuckled. "The reasoning behind that, of course, was that if we were injured we could be healed, and healing might heal away some age, too."
Brian bit his lip to keep from laughing.
"It was absurd, of course," Ethan laughed, "but it was what we thought. We both wanted so desperately to be here one hundred years from then, now, this year. We knew you had to be able to escape this year. We were going to make sure of it, but in the end, it's a good thing someone else found a way, because we never did." Ethan shook his head sadly. "We were so sure of ourselves back then."
Brian sighed. "So how did you lose your ability to walk?"
"Geoff was sick," Ethan informed him. "It seems like such a long time ago."
"Almost thirty years," Brian reminded him. "I saw his grave."
"He hadn't started to feel the physical effects of it yet, but the doctors told him there was nothing they could do. Six years later they found a cure, but that was much too late for Geoff."
Brian gulped.
"It didn't matter though," Ethan admitted. "Geoff didn't die of the disease. He died fighting a demon. And it was my fault."
Brian stared at Ethan stunned. "But how?"
"Ever since I learned to fight in astral form, I tend to do that," Ethan told him. "It allows me to be more limber and less vulnerable. Except this time, something happened, an earthquake actually, and I fell over. It was a very localized earthquake, directed pretty much at where I was, but it was enough to break me out of my astral form and leave Geoff alone. By the time I managed to get back, he was dead."
"Did you get him?" Brian asked, his eyes shining with unshed tears, again.
Ethan nodded quickly, anger on his face as he remembered. "Oh, yeah. I got him. He killed my brother. I wasn't letting him get away with that." He drew in a breath. "You want to know the worst part."
Brian looked at him silently, not sure how to answer.
"When I managed to summon him much later, he was glad it ended the way it did." Ethan sighed. "See there was this girl. She was ten. The demon had targeted her and he would have killed her, but he lost interest once he killed Geoff. He only cared about killing someone. Geoff told me he was old; he'd lived his life. That girl was so young, with so much in front of her. It was worth his life, to him, to see her live. I didn't want that ending. I wanted them both to live, but sometimes, you just don't get what you want."
Brian put his arms around his little brother and tears, unshed for years began to pour from Ethan's eyes. They were two brothers, mourning the brother they had both loved and lost.
A/N - If it's unclear, the earthquake was caused by a demon and Ethan's legs were crushed in it. Their whitelighter did try to heal them, but was forbidden by the elders, hope to convince Ethan to quite fighting demons, mostly due to his age. It didn't work. At this point if a whitelighter tried to heal them, he or she would be successful, but Ethan has never thought to ask, again.
If anyone is interested Ethan only had the two children he mentioned, James (not mentioned by name) and Rachel. Both are dead. He only had two granddaughters, Wanda and Eleanor. Eleanor had children and grandchildren. Wanda is somewhat recently married with no kids, but she does have step kids.
Geoff also had two children. His son he named Brian after his missing brother. Geoff's Brian is still alive and the oldest amongst his generation (thus why Ethan's son is named James). His daughter's name is Josie. Brian's two kids are John (who with his wife is in this scene) and Kimberley. Kimberley would have been of age with Prue and Andy and may have attended school with them, since she's from the same area. Josie had two daughters, MacKenzie and Erica, and two sons, Charles and Bent (who's in this scene and has the full first name of Benton). The six cousins have various kids and grandkids. Josie has been dead for many years.
Lauren had several miscarriage in her young life, before she finally gave birth to a daughter that lived. Doris did not stay in contact with her family growing up, since her father left the area shortly after the birth of a stillborn daughter, named Anna (as mentioned on the tomb), and death of his wife. He was buried with his wife when he died, but it was not until that point that Doris got in contact with her mother's family. She was forty-one at the time and built a relationship with them, but not a close one. She has since died.
Finally, Daniel, younger than his nephew, Brian, and very close in age to most of his other nieces and nephews, he had three children. His oldest, Charlene, was the one he entrusted with the changing the video's if he died. He also had a son, Kevin, and another daughter, Michelle (seen in this scene.)
When trying to do the scene at Eleanor's house I tried to make sure I knew what all the relationships were, so I ended up with a partial family tree for the Scotts. I hope you enjoyed the extra pieces to this story.