Hi, so here is another story and it is an episode based story like the last few this time in the later series.

I do like the later series and this episode The Lost Sheep in particular however I really struggled with the character of Olivia when she came back from Arizona this episode in particular, as a parent I don't understand her actions, I mean she basically belittles Erin, bullies her out of marriage, all but spits on Ashley and gets John to cover for her. Erin in the later series is basically an afterthought, they never seem to know quiet what to do with her and they create man after man to throw at her and to be honest Ashley was the best-granted Paul was quite good (until they ruined him in the movies) but this is a fix it basically for Erin because she deserved to marry the man she loved and she deserved to marry him despite her mother throwing an almighty temper tantrum (to be kind). Seriously...Olivia did twenty plus years married to John and despite everything I thought it was always pretty clear how he viewed religion...

On that note this does mention atheism, war, PTSD and trauma-basically all the good stuff the series doesn't cover. If this is a hard line for you then maybe stop here. I do not wish to offend anyone but this is based off the episode and nothing more. Personal beliefs don't come into it.

If you've read my work then you know spelling and grammar are not my strongest so please keep that in mind.

This is not going to be word for word cannon either. This story should be about eleven chapters long.

I will try and update when I can but with work that might be a bit sporadic so apologies in the meantime.

I have also brought back the original John Boy. The first five series were the best and it is arguably down to Richard Thomas, Ellen Corby and Will Geer being just as involved as Micheal Learnerd and Ralph Waite.

And I will try and get another chapter done before the holidays.

The Same Coin

Chapter 6-Path Of Least Resistance

John Boy is back! And it's the night before the wedding. And things are finally said between a mother and a son that might bring Olivia back to the table.

Or so John-Boy hopes.

"I was hoping to see Erin here, seeing as this is the last night before the wedding"

There was a coughing noise that was his sister choking on her water. Mary Ellen shot him a glare the likes of which would have sent the Germans packing over their borders within months of 1939 and he shrugged.

"Erin is upstairs getting her dress ready for tomorrow" Jason said picking up the prompt without asking, "She is then going to go to the Baldwin House."

"Isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?"

"Please, Miss Maime has parked herself one side of the hallway, Miss Emily the other. Neither one of them will sleep a wink tonight, honestly John-Boy it's so nice to see them this excited. I think this is the most…fun they have in years"

John-Boy took that to mean that the Baldwin sisters had been creating enough Recipe to fill the Grand Canyon.

God he loved those two old ladies.

"So" he said poking at his chicken. "Do we know what kind of marriage service it is going to be or are we going with dancing around a full moon with chickens blood painted on our faces"

"John-Boy!"

"Sorry" he said to his Momma who looked scandalised by his blasphemy. "I am just asking Momma, cause you see I don't know much beyond what Jason has told me but it seems like you don't like the idea of a marriage where—"

"We will not discuss this now" his Momma intoned and John-Boy was about to interrupt when Rose at his side gently tapped him with the edge of her knife. Looking at her she dipped her head in Jeffrey and Serena's way and John-Boy took it to mean that the two smallest Walton children neither one of them got what was going on. He sighed and turned back to the chicken on his plate as dinner carried on in silence before his sister commented on the heat.

"Oh dear God" he said stepping outside. Rose and Momma were doing the dishes and so he and his siblings were outside sat on the porch while their father chalked up accounts from the mill. The only thing that was missing was the constant rocking back and forth from rocking chair his Grandma would be sat in and their Grandfather's silent wisdom. Now it was Cindy with her baby in her lap rocking the baby to sleep.

John Boy liked Cindy. She seemed uncommonly smart. For a posh girl she was not afraid to get her hands dirty and she grounded Ben in a way that no other woman had managed to do. Ben sat next to her was watching his wife and child with a look that was both beautiful and soppy as hell.

"How bad has it been?"

"Bad" Mary Ellen said shortly. John Curtis was toddling outside with Serena and Jeffrey and she didn't take her eyes off him.

"I haven't even been to see Erin"

"Good luck with that" Ben said easily. "She's not gonna budge on this one. And Ashley's a good man John-Boy. He loves her deeply. I think she's kept him sane through the war. I heard he was in Italy and that's been a complete shit show from start to finish—"

"BEN!"

"Mary Ellen none of them can hear me or understand me!"

"So it's all over the fact that he doesn't believe in God"

"Yes"

"I don't get it" John Boy said finally. "I mean if he was forbidding Erin to raise their children in faith I maybe could understand Momma's stance but—"

The door opened and John-Boy moved to sit on the porch bench next to Elizabeth. It was their Momma and it was clear she had heard what they had said. Her eyes flashed and she seemed taller as anger seemed to grip her.

It didn't take long for Elizabeth and Jim Bob to remember that they had homework. It didn't take long for Cindy and Mary-Ellen and Ben to decide to put their children to bed and Jason sighed and muttered something about getting Serena and Jeffrey so that just left him and his mother. Him sat on the porch and her vibrating with anger next to him.

"Your wrong on this one you know" he said before she could chastise him.

"I am if you're against me"

He shook his head.

"I'm never against you. But you've lost this one"

She slammed the door shut so much it rattled.

"I am not wrong—"

He scoffed. "Okay"

"John Walt—"

"You don't know what it's like" he said flatly. "I do. I've seen what he's seen Momma. And let me tell you there is something to be said about a lack of faith. You don't know what it's like to look upon a scene of total carnage and to wonder if there is a God of love and mercy out there. Ashley's not the only one who had the crisis of faith out there believe me. I had one even before the war broke out"

"When?"

"When you were sick and you said you wanted to use that wheelchair. I ran halfway up the mountain screaming and shouting and Daddy and I had a fight."

She stared at him slightly open mouthed and John Boy moved so that she could sit down next to him.

"Your Daddy didn't tell me"

"Why would he? I was fine after you walked again. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't. And Daddy never told you because it was personal. That's the point. Faith is personal and how we worship it is personal. One of the things I learnt in New York? Two things you never want to discuss, politics and religion because it always ends up in a fight with someone else. And let's be clear Momma, Ashely told Erin upfront how he felt. He could have gone through the whole sham of getting married in a church and having children with her and then told her which would have created a bigger bombshell if you want my opinion."

His Momma looked out at the yard and then.

"I don't like it" she said finally. "I didn't raise Erin to turn her back…you don't know what it's been like for me." she said quietly turning from the main point before John Boy could argue it.

"You don't. Away from your father, away from the mountain, away from you children. Ben got married, married! Without telling me! I missed John Curtis learning how to walk. I missed the first time that this young man came to stay. I missed Elizabeth's first…well…everything, I left and she was a little girl and when I came back she was a young woman. And I had nothing in that place John Boy. They take your clothes and everything to make sure that you don't infect everything. I lost my hair, I was sicker than a dog and all I had to get me through it was you children and God. And then I come back and Erin is with a man who doesn't believe in the same things I do. Okay…I can accept that, of course I can. You think I haven't done twenty years of marriage to your father, happily and not accepted that there are certain things that I cannot change? But this…to deny the exsistance of the thing that kept me sane…the thing that saved my life, and your life and Jason's and all of you, the thing that I will dedicate my life to, to get you boys through this war in one piece…that is something that I cannot accept. He doesn't have to go to Church, their wedding doesn't have to be in a Church. But to not believe in anything at all…that is something I cannot understand and I cannot accept."

John Boy was silent. It seemed that she had been struggling to find a way to say this for days and he could see now how Erin had interpreted it as not caring. He tended to follow his parents and he did but he also knew his sister. Her middle name was Esther, Grandma was arriving tomorrow. This marriage was going to happen.

"Did you tell Grandma this?" he said finally.

"Do you think it would make any difference?"

"I don't know" she said finally. "I don't know if it would make any difference if your Grandma went to see her. Clearly it didn't for me—"

"Or maybe you didn't tell it right. I love you Momma but I can see what happened before I got Jason's report. You threw her wedding dress on the floor, accosted him in the living room and then told Erin that she was committing a sin. Now I don't know how anyone else is going to react to that but you should know better than anyone else that no child of my father's is going to do something because someone is pounding and hollering and thumping away at the bible. Or did you forget what happened with that whole revival thing?"

She hadn't and he could see that.

"Momma…do you know why Mary Ellen went to her quilting after all?"

"No, I thought because…because she changed her mind"

"Hell no" he said ignoring her tsk for blasphemy quite cheerfully. "Hello no, she went because I told her to suck it up and do it. Because she was going to be alright at the end of the day, she was going off to school and she was going to be happy. I told her to think about the split that was going to take place between you and Grandma. Because you were going to defend your child and Grandma was going to blame you because you didn't force her to attend. I knew that Daddy would back you and Grandpa would back his wife and I knew it was going to be a complete free for all. Mary Ellen still never wanted that damn thing. I was the one that made her think of the bigger picture and so I am telling you now you have to think of the bigger picture here. Because Erin is going to do this weather or not you are there. I know that you know that, Daddy knows that. You got a temporary reprieve with Chad Marshall but that's the only one you get. Erin is getting married and if you are not there she will marry him anyway. But the divide between you and your daughter will never be repaired. And it will be Miss Maime and Miss Emily who will one day tell you at Ike's that you have a grandchild. And she will shut you out of it's life, out of it's world because Erin will know then what unconditional love is. And yes perhaps in time the two of you might get your relationship back but it will never be the same. Erin will know what you think of her husband and her marriage and her children and her life and so she will not want you in it. I saw it all when I was with Daisy, I saw what her parents did to her and why she never spoke about them. And if you want to take that theory then you gotta think about the split between you and Daddy. Because Daddy will always walk his daughter down the isle weather or not you are there or not"

His Momma said nothing for a second and then.

"You'd make a damn fine preacher son"

"Momma!"

She rolled her eyes.

"I didn't know about the Quilting" she said finally. "Maybe if I had…I don't know. I know what you are saying is right, I know what your Daddy is saying is right, I know I've walked in Erin's shoes myself for years and been in a happy marriage for it. I just…this is a hard one for me. I love my children and I love my God. For me it's that simple. It's not an easy thing that you are asking me to do. That Erin is asking me to do. That your Daddy is asking me to do. And I can't help but blame that young man for coming back into our lives and forcing it to happen. Maybe it's irrational but there I am"

He nodded and he took her hand and she gripped his back and they overlooked the yard where all the children used to play for a time before she said she was going back to bed and John Boy sat there looking at her defeated posture felt a great wave of sadness for his mother and the fact that she had finally learnt the hard way that all children no matter how old they were, had to grow up and leave home.

And there you go, another chapter down and a few left.

Next Chapter-It's the morning of the wedding and Olivia comes to a decision.