Set some time post-Rosslyn and pre-Bartlet's re-election campaign
There are three Davids.
Two of them don't exist anymore, not really.
-= The First=-
The first David is the one Toby and his sisters try their hardest to protect, the one that is impossibly bright and not yet able to fight his own battles.
He can be annoying sometimes, this little puppy, always nipping at Toby's heels, always wanting Toby's attention and approval. Toby's long-suffering sighs fool absolutely no one; they all see how he patiently teaches this David all the things he'll need to know in the years to come. This is the David that Toby knows back when it is easier for him to feel tender feelings, when it's easy to love the bespectacled blue-eyed boy whose eyes constantly turn to the heavens.
"Toby, there's a star called P-polaris, it can show you where to go if you're lost."
"But what if I can't see the stars?"
This first David is too young to hear the melancholy notes in his brother's voice, as he tries desperately to look beyond the bright haze that obscures the night sky.
"Look harder, Toby, you'll find them," he says, as if it's the easiest thing in the world to do.
-=The Second=-
The second David is the one Toby finds harder to understand, there are times where he finds it nearly impossible to even like this David, he seems so different from the first. This older David has long since learned how to protect himself, even though there is still a sensitive little boy inside, the same little boy who had been afraid that his glasses would break in a playground scuffle. This David argues with Toby, he is moody and he talks back.
He is still smarter than just about anyone Toby knows and he works himself to the bone at school, trying to please a father that isn't there. Sometimes- sometimes Toby sees his own unhappy feelings, the pain and sadness that dog him, reflected in those eyes and whenever he thinks that maybe he has somehow tainted this once carefree child, that he is somehow directly responsible, he wishes desperately that someone, anyone, will take that burden away from this David, the one he doesn't always like. Toby still tries to protect this David, but there is no longer much he can do, only a few words of advice, "keep working, keep your head down, stay out of trouble". And to his surprise this David listens, he doesn't like being told what to do, but he listens, because he loves Toby fiercely, the way brothers do.
One night Toby walks past the room he once shared with his brother, David has it all to himself now, and he hears music from a blues record playing.
"Who- uh- who is that?"
"Blind Willie Johnson," David answers while he continues to fiddle with his telescope.
Toby isn't a blues aficionado, but David has mentioned him before.
"D'you know that they've got some of his music floating around out in space, it's on Voyager 1. Can you believe that Toby? To live the life he did, and die the way he did, but to have created something that lives on long after he's gone, something that will one day make it out of our solar system? Can you imagine being a part of something so much bigger than yourself?"
There are three Davids.
Two of them exist only in memory.
But sometimes Toby sees their shadows in two other men, two brothers he's acquired along the way.
"But what if I can't see the stars?"
"Look harder, Toby, you'll find them."