Secrets, a banshee fanfic

DISCLAIMER: Banshee and its characters are the property of Cinemax and the show's producers; no copyright infringement is intended.

Max: He's a happy little boy, despite his medical problems. Loves his parents (who he thinks are happily married), admires the cool new sheriff who let him touch the grip of his gun. But he really, really loves his big sister Deva! She's so good to him! And Mom...well, Mom is so tall, almost like a man. It makes it hard for a boy as small as Max to relate to her. Deva, on the other hand, is short for a fifteen-year-old, probably going to be a petite adult. Much nearer Max's size. He doesn't quite understand why he fantasizes about Deva. But his last thought before he drifts off to sleep is Is it wrong for the person a boy loves most to be his sister?

Deva: She understands that their mother is always urging her to help Max because she wants them to be close, and fears they won't because they're only half-siblings. Deva doesn't have a problem with that. Max is a great kid, and she loves him, loves helping him. But the situation causes her to think more than she otherwise would about her not being Gordon Hopewell's daughter.

She loves her mother and stepfather. But she's always wondered about her real father. She refuses to believe he's dead. Inevitably, she's begun to daydream about Sheriff Hood possibly being that father. He's just what she'd want a father to be...the name "Lucas" is perfect for him, because he's like an action hero from Lucasfilm! She sees Gordon constantly losing in court - yes, it's because the town is corrupt, but still, he's always losing. And she's heard of (though not actually seen) fights in which Lucas Hood, despite being beaten to a near-pulp along the way, always emerges the victor.

But she also has a crush on Sheriff Hood. Especially since he was the hero who came to her rescue at the rave, when Reed lay there dying, and everyone else ignored her screams. She's sure he's too honorable to consider having sex with a minor, even one prepared to throw herself at him. So she thinks she'll have to wait till she's eighteen. Maybe even twenty-one.

Do I want him more as a father, or as a lover? Before she drifts off to sleep, she realizes I want him as both. Yes, even if Mom wants him too.

Ana: Lying motionless beside her sleeping husband, she's thinking that the name "Hood" is perfect for the man now using it. So many shades of meaning...

"Hood" is a slang term for hoodlum. But it also summons up thoughts of Robin Hood. No, Ana's former lover doesn't steal from the rich to give to the poor. But he is a picaresque rogue; he never steals from the poor, and he's showing himself to be a champion - however flawed - of the abused and downtrodden.

Above all, the name "Hood" suggests concealment, secrecy. That surely fits...and would, she has to admit, fit her as well.

She still, however, thinks of the man as Tom. Not his real name, but the alias he should have been using all these years. The two of them, Tom and Carrie Palmer, living in the home Job had found for them, in the new identities he'd set up.

Even then, she would have been keeping secrets from Tom. Did he suspect? She thought not. When he'd insisted they conceal their love for one another from her father, she'd gotten the impression he thought her father had latent incestuous feelings for her.

She hadn't thought Daddy would object at all, caring for Tom the way he obviously did.

But how would Tom react, even now, if he were to learn the truth? There was nothing "latent" about the incest in her family; she'd been in bed with Daddy countless times after her mother's death. Would Tom kill Daddy if he learned that?

Would he kill her if he learned more of the truth? Learned that she, not Daddy, had been the seducer?

I'm sure he's figured out Deva is older than thirteen, believes he's her father. How would he handle the ugly possibility that he isn't?

This is one of the many nights when Ana never does sleep.

Lucas: He isn't initially thinking of Ana. Or his newfound daughter Deva. Or Gordon Hopewell, Kai Proctor, the Moodys, Job, or Rabbit.

He's thinking of Max.

He's been thinking of Max a lot lately, since he learned about the boy's medical condition.

A rare condition. Similar to asthma, but not identical. This medical condition is hereditary, runs in families.

With luck, a child may outgrow it.

As Lucas himself had.

Max is Rabbit's grandson, Lucas reflects. So Rabbit was telling the truth when he said I'm his bastard son. For the condition to run in his family, and whatever other family I might have come from, would be way too much of a coincidence.

Of course, I always knew there was a chance he was telling the truth. Maybe fifty-fifty? He didn't offer any sort of evidence. It could have been a ploy, trying to keep me from screwing his daughter.

But I couldn't think of any other reason for his not wanting me to screw his daughter. I never believed the lie I fed Ana, about his having incestuous feelings for her. I don't think she believed it either - she just accepted that if I'd gotten a crazy idea like that in my head, she wouldn't be able to talk me out of it.

I understand now that if Rabbit finds me, he'll kill me. If he'd been lying about our blood relationship, and figured I hadn't bought the lie, he might have been willing to spare me. But I really did screw my sister, after he'd told me not to. Even made a baby with her!

I won't let Rabbit find me.

Would Ana kill me if she learned the truth?

Lucas's days are so strenuous that nothing can keep him awake all night. But his last thought before he drifts off to sleep is Is it wrong for the person a man loves most to be his sister?

The End

Author's Afterword: This piece was suggested by two tidbits in the online prequel information.

At one point in the origin comic, Ana is unclear as to why the future "Lucas" is so insistent they keep their relationship secret from her father. She says, "He loves you!" And "Lucas" replies, "He loves you - too much."

At another point in either the comic or the filmed prequel scenes, a henchman of Rabbit's refers to Ana's being Rabbit's "only daughter." A big red flag: why "only daughter" and not "only child"? Of course, the writers may mean to introduce a son of Rabbit's down the road...or were leaving the possibility open in case they decide to do so.