Mark Arbour

It's interesting to contrast JP now, with how JP was with Brad when he was in high school. He was remarkably calm even then, but he's more logical with Will. Still, every once in a while he loses his cool. Stef has let himself get involved in Brad's drama. Silly man.

I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. It really is fun to help Will evolve from the bratty teen of "Poor Man's Son" to the more responsible guy we see now. I liked the whole steel door thing, and found myself laughing as I wrote that. I could so easily visualize the frustration of the foreman, Malcolm, and then Stef as they found it locked.

Maybe I can have Ace fire up the Delorean and take them back to the Nile? :-) I'd love to see JP have a conversation with Lord St. Vincent.

Part of the reason that Will may be relating better to JP is because he is maturing. Stef still sees him as a slightly out of control adolescent, and he and Brad can feed off that fear with each other. JP sees him as an adolescent learning to be a young man, making mistakes you'd expect him to make, and learning from them.

Well, I still haven't written the 9-11 chapters, so hang in there. I think that Kai has a good head on his shoulders, i think he's just introverted, and pretty much focused on his family. My supposition would be that Scott caught him at a vulnerable moment. A true predator.

I remember when I was 16, and learned to drive. That was truly freedom. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to live where you couldn't get around. It must take a lot of strength and courage to deal with that.

August 15, 2001 We were driving over to Kai’s house, even though it was only 4:30. I’d spent all but a few evenings over there with him, and had really enjoyed myself. Despite the fact that his father had to deal with this terrible disease, they were really happy together. There was a neat rhythm to their lives, one based on love and respect, and I hadn’t seen them fight once. I smiled ruefully as I thought about how foreign that experience was for me. These people had a routine

Doesn't Westie remind you a little of George. Only he's not as randy.

We've had this discussion a few times before, where we worry and wring out hands about a 14/15 year old dude getting laid, and I get rolled eyes from some people about how improper it is. Whatever. But for the record, I actually based Will's sexual development and maturity on four guys I knew growing up. All four of them matured early, and all four of them were wolves by the time they were 13. One guy was so nice, shit, people would do anything he wanted them to do. Another guy was cocky, a real asshole, and tended to use people. Another got in trouble and went to jail. And one guy was kind of a laid back stoner dude. Three of them (not the guy who went to jail) were hot, really hot. They were lucky, in that their bodies developed fast enough that they could take advantage of their total cuteness to get laid. I don't recall any of them thinking (then or later) that it was traumatic. They were mostly just smiling about it.

So no help on this one? No one wants to put together a list. *turns into JJ* Fine. Then when the posting slows down, and you all get mad at me, I'll have to explain that it was because I had to go back and put this together myself.

I'm left to wonder if that's because Will is shallow and flighty, or if it's because his life has been one constant upheaval.

You're right, in that they would have a massive task in front of them, but the prisoners would not be much of a problem. First of all, they'll want to be rid of them (most of them...they'll hang on to the prisoners that are skilled) because they'll be more of a nuisance than anything. They'd have to be guarded, and watched, and they probably wouldn't work all that hard without significant supervision, and worst of all, they'd have to be fed. They wouldn't need them for the voyage home, because they'll draft small prize crews from their own ships to sail them back to England. Besides, prisoners could potentially retake the ship! Landing them ashore is relatively easy, since the French army is there. Granted, they'd probably need a military escort to protect them at first, but I would think the French would provide that to acquire the return of their own men.

Does GA have a Hall of Fame? Probably not. They do have the Reader's Choice awards, though, and that's pretty damn close. I've won a few of those, thanks to you guys. :-)

I'm glad you liked the chapter (s). Thanks! You make it sound as if the story is almost over, and that now all George has to do is hop on a ship and head back to England. Muhahahaha.

If you think about it, George really has a lot of experience and training in these administrative issues. First there was his work with Hood at Toulon, which must have been a wonderful proving ground for what he's dealing with now. Then there was commanding his own ship, which has it's own scads of requirements. And then he helped with the mutiny, and worked with Pitt and Howe to resolve it.

We've actually had some discussions about George's share of the prize money. As near as I can tell, he'd get a smaller portion of the flag officer's pool, which is significantly smaller than what the captains of the ships received. In fact, Nelson got less than them as well, which is rather ironic.

I'm so glad you felt that way, especially the visible part. Those cannon balls can be deadly. ;-)

Thank you! You know, one of the more intriguing things about these ships and this era is that many of the repairs could be handled by the ships themselves. Granted, it takes a lot of time, and there are some that can't be fixed without a dockyard, but much of the destruction could be fixed if the supplies were there. If they cannibalize those soon-to-be-burnt French ships, they may have enough spare hardwood to make things work. And personally, I think there's nothing quite as good as some hard wood. ;-)

Wow. Thanks. That's really flattering. I sometimes think I should be more descriptive about the sights and the sounds, but I'm an ADD guy, and too much of that distracts me. I'm hoping that your brain paints in the rest, and in your case, it sounds like it worked. I'm so glad!

You are welcome, and you are right. I'm up, working on stuff for work (for a change), taking a desperately needed mental break to respond to reviews.

Why thank you. There's plenty of things Granger will have to deal with before Trafalgar. Maybe I'll let him live through Trafalgar, but then give him a groin wound so his dick doesn't work. No...he'd just turn into a total bottom then. ;-)

Thanks for the review, and for chiming in! It must have been pretty horrific to have a cannon ball bursting through this wall of wood, sending splinters flying through the air. The only saving grace was that the weapons weren't very accurate, but then, that's why the ships were so close to fight.

Well, I was simply going to write "Yep" to agree with pretty much everything you said, but instead I'll pick up on a few points. I don't know why Tony's getting a bad rap right now, perhaps even more than before. He hasn't really done anything lately with Will, with the exception of that one e-mail exchange, and that wasn't all that bad. We're supposed to hate him for being a good fuck? I usually don't have that reaction. ;-) Brad is having that typical parental struggle, between giving his son the freedom he more or less has to give him and wanting to stop him from getting hurt, or in Brad's case, he's probably trying to stop Will from making the same mistakes he did. Only that just pisses Will off more, because he doesn't see it like that. He just sees that Brad is being hypocritical.

August 1, 1798 Aboukir Bay, Egypt Granger arrived back on deck to find that the action had all moved east, as the British ships engaged the massive L’Orient and the two 80-gun consorts that flanked her. The Peuple Souverain had cut her cable and floated out of the battle, but she was badly knocked about, and would not be a threat. Granger was confident that at dawn they would find her and finish her off. Five ships of the line and a frigate had already been capt

Oh I think Will would have been very interested in bonding with his teammates, but not in the way you're talking about.