Family - A brief glimpse at a Whitechapel Fanfic.
Family - A brief glimpse at a Whitechapel Fanfic.
Over on Tumblr Geelou asked for a Whitechapel fic featuring Chandlers little sister and well, me being me, I couldn't just run off a quick lighthearted fic without it turning into a character study. I wanted to find a way to incorporate the new character believably and given what we know of Joes past it wasn't going to be particularly easy to just drop her in so this happened.....
This still needs work and is just the beginning but thought I'd pop it up now as I'm away from Friday so wont be able to add much till after I'm back.
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Joseph Chandler had always hated his mother.
.
She'd never been a topic of conversation, her existence was never mentioned and like a good son Joe had never asked. He'd convinced himself he wasn't interested, convinced himself he didn't care. He'd held no sympathy for her and no understanding, because what sort of woman walks away from her new born child and never looks back?
When his father had passed away Joe desperately tried to grieve. This man who had cared for him his entire life, who'd played with him, provided for him, held him when he'd cried and had been the only source of love he had even known was suddenly gone from his life, but all nine year old Joe could think was 'Maybe mummy will come back' and for that he hated her even more.
.
The day after Joes sixteenth birthday he answered a knock at his uncles door and there stood a woman he'd recognised from old photographs, changed with age, heavily pregnant and clutching a gift wrapped in blue paper.
He'd screamed at her to leave and slammed the door and that was the first and last time he'd ever really seen his mother.
.
At 32 Joe had his life set out ahead of him, with his uncles care and guidance he was doing well for himself and although he had a long way to go yet he already felt accomplished.
His penthouse apartment a fitting home, uncluttered and minimalistic, much like its owner. The few friends he had from the academy were all either married or settling down but Joe liked this quiet solitude where he could focus on his own plans and every aspect of his life had become scheduled and organised. He never considered that another knock on the door could change his life completely.
She's standing soaking on the pavement, blonde hair drenched with rain, jeans torn at the knee and a rucksack over her shoulder, for a moment Joe thinks he's looking at a stranger but then she looks up at him with eyes he sees every day in the mirror and says 'Hey Joe, I'm your sister' and his world turns upside down.
.
He'd decided to let her stay the night despite his dislike for her and although he knows he's too old for jealousy all he sees is the person who 'd had all that he'd been deprived.
She'd decided to stay eight weeks.
She'd eaten all his food, messed up the bathroom and run up his phone bill.
He'd started buying extra milk and listened to her cry herself to sleep over the loss of her mother.
Joe doesn't know how to handle a teenager, he's not a parent, and he doesn't know how she must be feeling as he'd barely had chance to be a son, but somewhere between the late night TV shows and the arguments over music volume the hatred seemed to slip away and instead of a reminder of all that was taken from him he begins to realise shes just another child trying to cope with being an orphan and in a world full of strangers they're really all each other have left.
.
2.
"Tea?" Riley mouths whilst shaking her cup in front of Kent who nods and gives her a thumbs up, still cradling the phone to his ear. Mansell's riffling through the paperwork mountain which seems to have appeared on his desk and Miles is filling in spaces on the white board in his neatest possible hand writing so no one notices at first the blonde stood just inside the door.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Joseph Chandler?"
Mansell's up from his desk in a second but is bypassed by Riley, cup still in hand, "down boy" she comments dryly before approaching the visitor.
"Do you want to take a seat and I'll see if he's free" but she needn't have bothered as the office door swings open and the DI appears smiling ear to ear like a kid on Christmas morning.
"Lou! I hadn't been expecting you, come in" he gestures to his office and with a skip in her step the visitor is gone and the team are left to speculate.
"Didn't know he had it in him" Mansell quips " How'd he manage a bird like that then?"
Miles just shrugs, he'd had no idea, and Riley rolls her eyes.
For Kent it was easy. He'd known the second she'd walked in. She's tall and slender, her eyes a shade of blue he's all too familiar with, her hair is blonde and straight and when Chandler had appeared she had smiled that same smile that Kent strives to receive from his boss each day.
"He has a sister" he says, not really to anyone but himself, and the rest of the team look puzzled.
.
Kent knows nothing about Chandlers past but he knows from watching him move around the station every day far more than he's sure the DI would be comfortable with.
He has memorized all his mannerisms, all his small tells, all the ways his features reveal exactly what he is thinking. Kent's aware of his bosses insecurities and issues even though Chandler does his best to hide them so it surprises him that this girl seems to hold none of these traits.
She'd appeared confident and had spoken without hesitation, she'd made eye contact with Mansell as if to show she'd known exactly what he was thinking, and how to deal with it, she'd practically bounced across the room to the DI as if she didn't have a care in the world, or at least was unconcerned regarding the impression she made on other people and as Kent takes another subtle glance through the office glass he is amused to see her sitting comfortably opposite Chandler with her boot clad feet propped up on his desk.
It wouldn't be obvious to everyone but while Kent is aware that these two are genetically similar first impressions suggest that personality wise they are anything but and that leads Kent to wonder exactly what happened in their upbringing, in their formative years, that had separated them enough to cause such differences. He's sure that he's right because if Kent knows anything he knows DI Chandler and she's not like her brother at all, plus he didn't make detective just because of his good looks.
.
.
.
To be continued......( hopefully with a PLOT and everything!)
Over on Tumblr Geelou asked for a Whitechapel fic featuring Chandlers little sister and well, me being me, I couldn't just run off a quick lighthearted fic without it turning into a character study. I wanted to find a way to incorporate the new character believably and given what we know of Joes past it wasn't going to be particularly easy to just drop her in so this happened.....
This still needs work and is just the beginning but thought I'd pop it up now as I'm away from Friday so wont be able to add much till after I'm back.
.
Joseph Chandler had always hated his mother.
.
She'd never been a topic of conversation, her existence was never mentioned and like a good son Joe had never asked. He'd convinced himself he wasn't interested, convinced himself he didn't care. He'd held no sympathy for her and no understanding, because what sort of woman walks away from her new born child and never looks back?
When his father had passed away Joe desperately tried to grieve. This man who had cared for him his entire life, who'd played with him, provided for him, held him when he'd cried and had been the only source of love he had even known was suddenly gone from his life, but all nine year old Joe could think was 'Maybe mummy will come back' and for that he hated her even more.
.
The day after Joes sixteenth birthday he answered a knock at his uncles door and there stood a woman he'd recognised from old photographs, changed with age, heavily pregnant and clutching a gift wrapped in blue paper.
He'd screamed at her to leave and slammed the door and that was the first and last time he'd ever really seen his mother.
.
At 32 Joe had his life set out ahead of him, with his uncles care and guidance he was doing well for himself and although he had a long way to go yet he already felt accomplished.
His penthouse apartment a fitting home, uncluttered and minimalistic, much like its owner. The few friends he had from the academy were all either married or settling down but Joe liked this quiet solitude where he could focus on his own plans and every aspect of his life had become scheduled and organised. He never considered that another knock on the door could change his life completely.
She's standing soaking on the pavement, blonde hair drenched with rain, jeans torn at the knee and a rucksack over her shoulder, for a moment Joe thinks he's looking at a stranger but then she looks up at him with eyes he sees every day in the mirror and says 'Hey Joe, I'm your sister' and his world turns upside down.
.
He'd decided to let her stay the night despite his dislike for her and although he knows he's too old for jealousy all he sees is the person who 'd had all that he'd been deprived.
She'd decided to stay eight weeks.
She'd eaten all his food, messed up the bathroom and run up his phone bill.
He'd started buying extra milk and listened to her cry herself to sleep over the loss of her mother.
Joe doesn't know how to handle a teenager, he's not a parent, and he doesn't know how she must be feeling as he'd barely had chance to be a son, but somewhere between the late night TV shows and the arguments over music volume the hatred seemed to slip away and instead of a reminder of all that was taken from him he begins to realise shes just another child trying to cope with being an orphan and in a world full of strangers they're really all each other have left.
.
2.
"Tea?" Riley mouths whilst shaking her cup in front of Kent who nods and gives her a thumbs up, still cradling the phone to his ear. Mansell's riffling through the paperwork mountain which seems to have appeared on his desk and Miles is filling in spaces on the white board in his neatest possible hand writing so no one notices at first the blonde stood just inside the door.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Joseph Chandler?"
Mansell's up from his desk in a second but is bypassed by Riley, cup still in hand, "down boy" she comments dryly before approaching the visitor.
"Do you want to take a seat and I'll see if he's free" but she needn't have bothered as the office door swings open and the DI appears smiling ear to ear like a kid on Christmas morning.
"Lou! I hadn't been expecting you, come in" he gestures to his office and with a skip in her step the visitor is gone and the team are left to speculate.
"Didn't know he had it in him" Mansell quips " How'd he manage a bird like that then?"
Miles just shrugs, he'd had no idea, and Riley rolls her eyes.
For Kent it was easy. He'd known the second she'd walked in. She's tall and slender, her eyes a shade of blue he's all too familiar with, her hair is blonde and straight and when Chandler had appeared she had smiled that same smile that Kent strives to receive from his boss each day.
"He has a sister" he says, not really to anyone but himself, and the rest of the team look puzzled.
.
Kent knows nothing about Chandlers past but he knows from watching him move around the station every day far more than he's sure the DI would be comfortable with.
He has memorized all his mannerisms, all his small tells, all the ways his features reveal exactly what he is thinking. Kent's aware of his bosses insecurities and issues even though Chandler does his best to hide them so it surprises him that this girl seems to hold none of these traits.
She'd appeared confident and had spoken without hesitation, she'd made eye contact with Mansell as if to show she'd known exactly what he was thinking, and how to deal with it, she'd practically bounced across the room to the DI as if she didn't have a care in the world, or at least was unconcerned regarding the impression she made on other people and as Kent takes another subtle glance through the office glass he is amused to see her sitting comfortably opposite Chandler with her boot clad feet propped up on his desk.
It wouldn't be obvious to everyone but while Kent is aware that these two are genetically similar first impressions suggest that personality wise they are anything but and that leads Kent to wonder exactly what happened in their upbringing, in their formative years, that had separated them enough to cause such differences. He's sure that he's right because if Kent knows anything he knows DI Chandler and she's not like her brother at all, plus he didn't make detective just because of his good looks.
.
.
.
To be continued......( hopefully with a PLOT and everything!)