David's Aunt
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot
David sat on his bed feeling numb. The day before his father had announced his intention to marry again. Today he had brought his new wife home. She had come in a moment to sit with him before father had forced her to go with him to his room. She said to him that she should stay in her own home, this was after all strictly a political arrangement. He refused, demanding she live in their home. She agreed somewhat hesitantly. When he had taken her from David's room, Father had told her that they were going to their room, and she suggested that she stay in a separate room. Again, Father demanded she stay with him, she was his wife now he said. She complied, the look on her face of a woman obeying a man who had become master of her fate. David knew that was not so, even she did. He was old enough to know what father wanted. She sure must. She knew father better then anyone alive. Father had married Aunt Susan.
The marriage was to keep the image of a strong Alliance. He the commander in chief, marrying his second in command sent a good message, especially when the Alliance was supposedly torn over Delenn's death. In her life they had made it appear as if she were a greater part of the alliance then she really was. David had loved her yes. But as a child must love a mother. The two had never been exceptionally close. He was closer to Susan then he had been to Delenn. Right now, his biggest complaint was that he had wanted Susan to stay with him longer.
With his father's marriage to Susan, there was a new norm around the house. John and Susan were not in love. They had never been in love. They were more like brother and sister in their friendship then husband and wife. It was a comfortable place to spend his adolescent years. The two rarely fought, and when they did it was mostly heated discussions about work.
Susan rose early, even before five and spent half an hour in slowly practicing with her denn bok, along with meditation. She then bathed and dressed, before packing a lunch for David to take to school, putting his lunch in his school bag and leaving the bag by the door. She ironed and lay out his school uniform the night before. She would make something for breakfast, like fresh cinnamon buns, which she would prepare the night before and bake in the morning, have a jug of fresh juice in the fridge. She would even set the coffeemaker to go off at seven when David and John woke. She would leave so that she could be at Ranger headquarters by six.
What David loved the most was that he could go to her after school. That was what she wanted. She wanted to know where he was and to have someone watching him. He loved that she cared enough to do it herself. All the physical training and work with the fleet was done in the morning, the meetings were in the early afternoons, so by the time he got there, she would be doing paper work as Rangers and diplomats came to her office. She allowed him to watch, as long as he did his homework. Around seven they would go home, he would rush to play outside as she made dinner. Father would talk with her as she did, helping out in little tasks. They would eat at eight, David would have time with his parents before going to bed at nine.
The only change was Sunday. On that day Father woke early, and made the only thing he knew how to make, pancakes. She would wake later, at seven thirty or so, they would eat at eight before going to the church which had been established on Mimbar, Aunt Susan coming along for his sake. After services they would spend a day of leisure, before Uncle Stephen and Uncle Michael came over for a barbeque.
The years passed comfortably with little change. Aunt Susan was becoming even more ill. It was becoming more difficult for her to move, her back ached, and though she tried to hid it, her sight was failing. Stephen who of course noticed, demanded to examine her and came out of the room in tears. She had a tumor on her back caused by all the damage to it from the torture, it was a disease she had caught, harmless to men, that was causing her sight to fail and her joints and bones to ache. Neither situation was curable. She would have a few years yet, if everything went well, but a shorter life then most. The worst part was he didn't have the pain killers to help her, everything was being used in the Interstellar relief center, and what little he could spare was never enough. David had watched hidden so many times as John, who had been trained by Stephen would lay her on her stomach at the end of the day, lift her shirt to expose her scarred back, rub the clove oil on the area around the tumor from the meager supply, plunge a needle into the tumor and draw out liquid. Her tired body would tremble in pain. John would speak soothingly to her. When it was over, he would gently clean the area, help her change and put her to bed. As she drifted off he would watch her, with a sorrow filled look on his face.
It was decided that she needed a break, although she protested vigorously, she was overruled. Both she and father needed to visit Earth again, and David should see the home of his father. So it was in his fourteenth summer, that the three of them visited the Sheridan farm.