The ties that bind - FAQs and useless, random information (this is not a new chapter! Sorry )
Achem. I wrote at the beggining of chapter 6 that I had made a journal post with totally random information and some funny side notes regarding TTTB for the reviewers. Well, since the link did not work and my lj is acting up, I thought might as well post it here. So since I am currently writing on chapter seven, here is something to pass the time.
If you want, think of this as an extra on a dvd - you don't really have to read it to understand the story. But after a few nice emails form reviewers and a wonderful conversation here on my lj I thought to hell with it, just go for it. So if you want, kick back and have fun.
1.) FAQs.
I have been asked quite a few questions about this story - and since it grew and got a little bit out of hand, I think I owe you a few answers :)
Q: Why the hell is the pace of this story so slow? Aren't they searching for a missing person? Shouldn't they constantly be in a hurry?
A: Well, if you have paid attention (and I am assuming all of you have ) I am sure you noticed that our MPU team is NOT really working on an official case right now. Eve McEvoy was never really reported missing (her mother tells us why in chapter six) and the Derringer case is no longer theirs. So right now they are kind of using Eve McEvoy as an alibi to find out more about the Derringer case and while they are on it, about Martin :)
And than there's the fact that it's a ATF crossover. The boys are not less efficient then the MPU, but a lot more laid back. There's no running around town going on if it's not necessary. :)
Q: There are so many flashbacks in your story, but you never exactely say how much time went by. How long was Martin "missing" after he ran away?
A: Have I ever mentioned that chapter one is over a year older then the rest of the story? I posted it just for fun and never planned to pick it up. Well, after I actually got reviews for the ancient thing I call chapter one, I was facing the difficult task of actually getting back into the storyline. So I did a lot of math to untangle the mess I had created. Think about it like this: Rangers: 4 years, Bounty Hunter: 1 year, ATF: 3 years. So: 8 years. And since Maddie is 27 at the beggining of the story and once it was mentioned that she is four years younger than Martin (and let's not forget his 2 years at White Collar and the fact that this story takes place in WAT season two) you do the rest of the math yourself. (yawn)
Q: Okay, we know that Vin had the accident and that Victor Fitzgerald found him after that. How did that happen? How did he get from Denver to DC? Is there any memory loss involved?
A:(snort) Well, that's one of the last mysterys left, huh? About the memory loss issue: No, there is none of that involved, at least not really. A tiny bit, maybe. We will see. I hope the answer to the question of how Vin got from Denver to DC is going to surprise you - although I already hinted at it several times. Just check the beginning of chapter two. (What? You really thought I was going to tell you? Please.)
Q: How on earth do you keep track of all your OCs? I lost you somewhere through chapter six.
A: I have no idea where they all came from. I mean there's the tissue addict Rose Vaughn, the pain in the ass Darlene McEvoy, then of corse David Foley, our beloved librarian on anti-depressants, Bailey Carsson, who spent most of the time in a hospital (thank god), Gabe Kincaid from chapter two (who is actually from another story of mine that I never posted, but I liked him a lot and wrote him into TTTB)... and that's not all, be sure that Maddie, Eve McEvoy and even another female character from a WAT episode will make an appearance. Whoa. (But don't get me wrong, there is NEVER going to be any Mary-Sue - ing in a story I write. Bah!)
Q: Everybody is talking about this Derringer guy, but WHO the heck is he? Will he ever show up in this story?
A: Well, at first I was thinking about making it some kind of running gag that everybody talks about him but he never shows. But now... he DOES exist, so maybe we'll meet him at some point. We shall see :)
Q: Do you hate Victor Fitzgerald? He seems to be the real bad guy in all this.
A: I couldn't believe somebody actually had the guts to ask me that (giggle). So I hope this will be a shocker, because the answer is NO. As a matter of fact, I kind of like him. I know that this must be a surprise, but I think that Martin and Victor are a lot alike and that this is the reason why they clash the way they do. So do not expect me to demonize Victor too much. Everybody has a reason for the way he or she acts. That's all I am saying.
Q: Why are there no Martin/Sam scenes in this?
A: Well, for starters, because at this point of time (remember: TTTB takes place halfway through season two) there has not really happened a lot between them. And then... well, let's just say that I don't see it. I absolutely love the way AJ writes them in the "Full moon..." stories, but in WAT cannon? It just irks me. It's so clear that Sam is still pining over Jack while dating Martin in season three, it hurts. I just can't see Martin/Sam, just like I can't see Danny/Elena. Which is going to happen in season... wait... five? I don't know, I stopped watching after the whole storyline with Martin's drug addiction.
2.) Random and totally useless information
Well now, let's move on to the trivia nobody wants to know. You don't really have to read this- if you think I already babbled enough, just let it be. Nothing in this paragraph is really important, so you won't miss anything. It's just me having fun yacking away about nothing.
Still, I love doing this, it's like opening an old drawer and finding useless junk you lost a long time ago.
The storyline of TTTB
is weird, I know that. When I first started working on an idea for a WAT/ATF story, it was rather simple. Write down a casefile, make the MPU team go to Denver for some god forsaken reason, throw in team seven and tadaaa, crossover story. But I have a really weird and crazy way of thinking and that was just too simple and stupid. So I threw in some chaos and mayhem and here we are.
Another point was that when I first started TTTB, I was shying away from the idea of the team just hopping on a plane to Denver on a simple missing persons case. Because throughout season one of WAT, they rarely left New York. So I added the whole ATF thing, Derringer getting out of prison and the Carsson attack, to give them a good reason to travel to Denver. And then? Then came season two, and I watched in awe how Jack and Danny went on a short trip to Tikrit (oO...) like it was nothing and I felt rather stupid. But now I got them into this mess and I am the one to get them out of it. Thank you Mr. Bruckheimer.
The thing about the flashbacks
Achem, You want to know the bloody, messy truth? Actually, the first flashbacks in TTTB (aka the whole Derringer bust, the scene on the rooftop...) from chapter one were from other ATF stories that I started writing but never finished. When I came up with the idea for TTTB, I ripped the other stories apart and included the parts into TTTB - it kind of felt like patching together Frankensteins monster.
After chapter one I kind of ran out of flashback material and really had to come up with a reason for their existence. So the rough storyline of TTTB was born out of desperation and the flashbacks turned into some weird tradition that I grew fond of. Oh boy.
Originally, it went like this...
When I first started TTTB, a lot of things were different from the final version of chapter one that I posted on It was a lot darker, more depressing and no fun at all. Examples?
- The overall atmosphere, aka The many lifes of Bailey Carsson
In an early version of TTTB, the Derringer bust ends dramatically, there's a lot of gunfire, blood and even an explosion during which Bailey Carson is killed. It was a rather heartless desicion - he simply was the most expendable character, since he had just been introduced and never had any lines. (the whole scene was the same as it is now, except for the last paragraph which was originally the bloody and messy part.) That idea did not really work out for me, since that whole scenario with the Derringer bust was meant to introduce Chris and the boys - and that was defenitely too much mayhem and tragedy for that. So I changed it, the boys had their fun and Carsson survived. But not for long. When I first wrote chapter two, I had a lot of trouble getting back into the storyline and needed something drastic to get the attention of Jack and his team. So originally, Gabe Kincaid tells the team that Bailey Carsson was not only attacked, but killed on the spot. Wham. Drama? There you go. But after chapter two was finished (!!) I re-read the whole thing and found that a murder did not really fit in. Also I was sure that had an ATF agent been killed, no one over at Denver would have cared about sending an agent to some MPU unit in New York. It was just too drastic.So I went through all the 11 pages of chapter two and erased every evidence of Carsson's death. He was revived once again. (Not that him being a vegetable in a hospital bed for most of the story is any better. But hey, he made it. He did not die. That's an improvement, no? Talk about useless information.) Since he did not really make an impression yet - aside from some drug - induced babbling (about Vin's hair! Mwah!) I might still kill him off. Or not. We shall see about that.
- Milo Derringer aka Waiting for Godot
After getting rid of the dark parts of TTTB and deciding for a much lighter apporach, I had to re-invent the (so called) bad guy too. At first Derringer was a really dark character, but in the end I did not have it in me to write him like that.
In my mind, Milo Derringer is now a sneaky, greedy little man with criminal tendencies and a temper, but not a murderer. The overall atmosphere of the casefile was meant to feel like "Life rules" or, to a certain extend, "The line" (both season two of WAT) . Confusing, a bit on the serious side but overall light and a tad bit crazy. It was meant to counteract Martin's dilemma, which is angsty enough as it is methinks. And the fact that we haven't met Derringer yet? Was me being sloppy at first, but now that I look back at it, it's probably because during WAT casefiles, we only really "meet" the missing person once he or she is found.
- The reunion aka Lost and found
Originally, I had planned to send Chris over to New York in chapter two instead of Gabe Kincaid. But for some reason that scenario did not really work, it would have been to easy. I know from experience that you can't just walz back into other people's lives after years and act like nothing ever happened. The arkwardness IS there and tension is an issue.
So to add to the angst, I rewrote that too and made Jack, Danny and Martin go to Denver instead. It was still tricky, but I liked the idea of having members of both teams there better than Chris coming to New York alone.
- Victor Fitzgerald aka "Are we there yet?"
(snicker) Well, originally I had planned to let Victor arrive on the scene (and ultimately in the story) a lot earlier, but that just didn't sit right with me. There's a certain amount of flashbacks that I need to add BEFORE our AD can take over the story. (Which he sure will, at least for a few scenes :) So the whole hospital scene, when Chris tells Simms and Martin that they are officially reassigned to the Derringer case (meaning that the case is yet again ATF only), this was not only my way of putting team seven back together, but also another obstacle Victor Fitzgerald will have to face. Since he really has a lot of influence, I needed something official to keep him busy. I am not really sure who he will have to face first, Travis, Martin... maybe even Chris. We shall see about that, no?
Jesus, I could go on like this forever. But let's stop here, huh? I think I already babbled enough.
See you in chapter seven!!
hugs
shun