Breaking Bad fic: The Sins of the Father

[falafel_musings]

title. The Sins of the Father
fandom. Breaking Bad
characters. Walt and Jesse. Walt POV.
summary. Future fic set sometime after the Denny's teaser. Finding himself cornered by the DEA, Walt tries to find another perfect moment to die and some way for Jesse to live free. 
warnings. Heavy angst, hints of violence. 
disclaimer. BrBa is not mine and I

Comments

[pgilmour]

Well done! I liked that you had in Walt's plan that Jesse's new identity would make him Walt's son. I had actually thought of that myself in all my imaginings of how this would end. This only makes me long for July even more though! I'm never going to make it! I keep wondering how they are going to get from Point A - Walt and family at his house with Hank in the bathroom to Point B - Walt 9 months or so later at Dennys. I mean he's not wearing his ring so Skyler must not be with him, which indicates to me that he must've gone on the run and is not under Witness Protection or something, because you'd think if he'd chosen that route he'd have his family with him. Perhaps Skyler rolled on him to protect herself and the kids and maybe went into witness protection with them? That would make more sense than Jesse rolling on him since she wouldn't want to have the kids taken away from her. So, if he's back to protect someone, who would it be? I like the idea of Jesse being hostage cook (as in your story), but I imagine they would've taken him sooner, so why wait so long to go back and get him? Plus, they're based in Phoenix, so why ABQ? However, Jesse is about the only one I can imagine getting into the sort of situation that would require a high powered weapon to extricate him. It's agonizing having to wait! The only thing sustaining me is re-reading your Walt and Jesse analyses. The other thing I'm really hoping for in these last eight - more Jesse POV. We didn't really get much of that in the last eight. Anyways, very well done on the story!

[falafel_musings]

Brain twins indeed! Yes, I needed to find some way for Walt to formally adopt Jesse. :D

I mean he's not wearing his ring so Skyler must not be with him, which indicates to me that he must've gone on the run and is not under Witness Protection or something

This fic did originally include several references to Skyler and Walt's kids but my beta (wisely) suggested I took them out because I was going off on a tangent. But yeah, I imagined that they would be in witness protection during the events of this fic. Either that or Skyler would be in jail and the kids would be back with the Schraders.

I like the idea of Jesse being hostage cook (as in your story), but I imagine they would've taken him sooner, so why wait so long to go back and get him? Plus, they're based in Phoenix, so why ABQ?

Ha! I've thought about these factors too. I also think if they have Declan cook-napping Jesse it'll be immediately after Walt's disappearance and that they would probably smuggle him out to a secret superlab in Phoenix. So my new theory for the ending is that Jesse escapes on his own and returns to ABQ. Saul then tells Walt who comes to town to protect Jesse and take revenge on the Phoenix cartel. I kinda like this theory better since I don't want Jesse to be reduced to a damsel in distress role so escaping without Walt's help would be awesome. That would offer the possibility of a Walt/Jesse vs the Phoenix crew vs the DEA climax. Maybe with additional threats from Madrigal, Chile and any surviving Mexican cartel. Walt has pissed off a lot of people! :D

The other thing I'm really hoping for in these last eight - more Jesse POV.

Agreed. The front eight could have done with a lot more Jesse and more Hank too. We know Hank will be getting the spotlight in the final episodes. The idea of a Hank/Jesse collaboration is very appealing for these reasons. I think they will both get more in the final eight. Mike's death has left room for more focus on the remaining characters.

[pgilmour]

It's so sad really; one of Walt's most redeeming qualities is that he will risk his own life to save Jesse, yet at the same time Walt has damaged Jesse so badly that these days he no longer cares if he lives or dies.

Ok, so I'm responding to your comment to someone else - I think for Walt to do what he did to Jesse at the end of S4, he had to consciously put emotional distance between himself and Jesse. As he said “Secrets build barriers between people”. And I really got the feeling in S5 that he was going through the motions of caring about Jesse, without really caring. That being said, I think he does care very much, but he kind of cut off communication with the part of his brain that tells him he cares. Does that make any sense? BC said something about in the last episode having a hard time figuring out what Walt was feeling and then realizing that Walt has buried all his emotions so deeply that he doesn’t even know what he feels. But that little smile he gets when he sees Jesse that last time was affectionate, so somewhere down deep he must care. At least that was my interpretation. Of course, I shouldn’t care that he cares since he’s pretty despicable at this point. It’s a testament to how well this show is written and acted that you simultaneously want Jesse to be free of Walt, but also want those two to just work it out and go go-carting….

We know Hank will be getting the spotlight in the final episodes.

I do want some Hank POV in the last 8, but I hope it doesn’t turn into the Hank vs. Walt show with Jesse being a second thought. That would kinda suck. And I'd really like to see Skyler come through it all. I agree with you about the Skyler/Jesse alliance. That would be awesome! At the very least, I'd like her to realize that he's more like her than like Walt.

The only problem I thought of with the hostage cook theory is that I think Jesse would rather let them kill him than be dragged back in against his will. So for the hostage thing to work, I think they'd have to have some leverage on him - Andrea and Brock? his family? Obviously, I spend way too much time thinking about this!

[falafel_musings]

Yay, you got your italics coding working! :D If LJ didn't suck so much it'd be nice if they just added a damn italics option to comment posting.

I think Walt had very passionate love/hate feelings towards Jesse at the end of S4. One moment he's yelling at Jesse to go get himself killed in Mexico, then he is yelling at Tyrus that he'll never cook again if anything has happened to Jesse in Mexico. I think Walt feels possessive of Jesse more so than loving or hating. It's the same with Skyler. He's cruel and abusive to her, yet he still won't let her go.

I hope it doesn’t turn into the Hank vs. Walt show

Well S4 was the Walt vs Gus show and Jesse still had a pivotal role to play in that battle. Usually when it's Walt Vs Anyone (Mike, Tuco, etc) Jesse is heavily involved in their conflict. Hank will surely link Jesse to Walt. He also knows Jesse has links with Saul, Badger, Tuco, etc. I think Hank is going to realise Jesse is a key player in the Heisenberg case. And yes, I hope we'll get that sort of Jesse/Skyler solidarity too.

I think they'd have to have some leverage on him - Andrea and Brock? his family?

I don't think they'll bring back Andrea & Brock, but I'm sure Lydia could find Jesse's family. If they threatened Jesse's little brother they'd certainly have leverage over him. I agree that if they just tried to make him cook at gunpoint Jesse would refuse and tell them to shoot him.