This was so intense and raw. I love how you revealed the past of the boys but so subtly... I love this story.

There is a certain amount of sympathy and frustration with Linus in this one. Because can picture the opening. Linus studying Howard Grundy on tape solidly for three days and doing it in true Linus fashion: comprehensively, consistently, looking for all the information he can; like Terry in O11 where he finds out about brother in laws and museum curator girlfriends. And he will be able to tell you the brand of champagne Grundy favours and the restaurant he frequents and even what golf handicap he plays off. Because that's Linus.

So, can imagine how lost that "What?" is when Rusty looks at the screen and comments. And of course, the need to know what he has missed and the how he's missed it.

Loving the invisible bit of string that Rusty tugs on to get Danny's attention and which is going to forever baffle Linus. Sigh for the nonverbal conversation. Because even though it isn't about Rusty anymore, it always will be.

Linus studying the tape with even more intensity. The whole "What have I missed?" eating through him. And then the DannyandRusty conversation that follows that elucidates nothing and the "we *have* to" and the “We don't do nothing" because (as we the readers know) they know what it feels like to have glances slide away from the problem and they know what it feels like to handle this on their own. And there were two of them.

The revelation and Linus turning back to the screen, mentally running through everything he's seen and the selfpride that *knows* how good he is and that doesn't let him think he's missed a trick. And if he is as good as he thinks he is, then there has to be another answer. The answer cannot lie in the footage. And that leads to the accusation and the disbelief and because they care about Linus, they have to show him - and everyone else - their workings. Even though it is the most private and painful piece of *them* to draw upon. And incidentally? Love that Frank and Livingston just take it in their stride. Oh, and hear "Tess is here?" in the "Now there are sides?". Just btw.

Can see the words that no one else will hear. The "Everyone else will just take our word for it" and the "We owe it to Linus" and then, the two-handed explanation. Delivered as one. And of course, it becomes Rusty and his father. The vigilance and the wariness and the looking for exits (quiet shudder for kitchens); the hiding the pain and the disguising the bruises; the fierce contempt and fury on the father's part - "He hates his son and he wants him to hurt" - oh, such very raw memories; the son seeking approval in spite of himself and the standing up to the fallout when he knows he hasn't won it; and the dark, dark promise in public of exactly how much of a disappointment he is and how he can expect to discuss this point later.

And, if this is not the first time Rusty has lived this, it is certainly not the first time Danny has watched this. Pain for both of them and absolutely the "stupid bastard"s are flavoured without heat at the stubborn and selfsufficient child that was Rusty.

Afterwards and Linus looking up at the bright and the brittle and the question(s) burning through him that he will never ask.

And yes, they're going to do something. They're all going to want to do something. Because Livingston and Frank and Reuben and Linus are good men. And because for Danny and Rusty, there is no question. Sighing for the dark and different answer. Just btw.

Still an inappropriate smile for Reuben forging law enforcement introductions.

Adult!Rusty knowing both the right steps to follow and the likely reaction from Grundy's kid. And slight smile for the "Way too young". And no smiles whatsoever for the mother who knows and does nothing. For either mother. Especially the one who knew and contributed.

Sigh for Linus and his almost Tess like belief in the way things ought to be.

"“Sometimes people don't listen,” Danny told him simply.

“Most times people don't want to see,” Rusty added."

Yeah. See mtc for details.

Linus and his happy childhood and thinking about Bobby meeting them in Chicago and glimpsing just the tiniest fraction of the primal in the blankness in Rusty's eyes and going back home and hugging Linus even more.

And the main difference between Grundy's kid and Rusty? The fact that the "always alone" didn't apply past the age of seven.

Hate that they had the insight and the up close and personal to see what was happening. Love the fact that they're going to stop it. And imagining the need for them to find a place to be on their own with a bottle of whisky and silence very shortly afterwards.

oohh, now your making me cry! great story. thanks for sharing

I do love the 'more things change' verse!

This was great too.

Poor Linus who just doesn't see, because he's had such a different childhood.

I'm wondering if any of them know about Rusty, people like Saul and Reuben.

:)

Oh. Wow.

This wasn't fluffy or happy either (I just left a review on your killer!Linus story) but this was really, truly, amazingly good. You managed to get an awful lot of 'stuff' into a very small package, without ever coming right out and hitting us across the head with it.

This one packed a punch - but it was well worth it.

Wow. That was ... intense. It's just so *wrong* that they know this, and yet, for the kid's sake, it's so right that they do. Because it's them, and they can and they *will* do something about it.

And yes, for a moment there, I wanted to strangle Linus, but it's not his fault, of course. I am glad he had Bobby and Molly, and never had to even imagine something like this.

And all of Linus' questions were natural, and fair, just the things most people who've never been through something like this would ask. And as much as it pained them, it's good that he insisted, 'cause now he - and all the rest of them who were there - know what to look for, what to *see*.

Excellent work, thanks for sharing,

Maia.

I think your writing skills are way too impressive not to credit them with a review. Even if I never really know what to say. It's just remarkable how you manage to capture the reader with so little words. Some books have a couple hundred pages and they don't manage what you do in only a couple hundred words.

I really like the fact that you worte this from Linus pov. It makes it all easier to understand, cause Linues is an "outsider", just like we are. So it makes him see DannyandRusty from a point we can easily associate with.

"More things change" is really amazing and I'm so glad you keep writing little side stories, cause I really don't want to stop reading about them just yet. Thanks

Impressive. It was great to see how you took your characters, whom we have mostly seen as young boys, and turn them into DannyandRusty as we know them but still the boys you brought so close to our hearts. Also, it was interesting to see the whole thing through Linus eyes, the one who is the most insecure about DannyandRusty and their perceptiveness, and the one who would probably had the most possible different upbringing.

And I loved to see where that are now, in the position to do differently than all those who don't listen and don't want to know. And how they don't do nothing. Love.

oh wow... seeing this from Linus's POV gave it a real edge, and i could totally see Danny and Rusty being able to spot something like that, and being impatient with Linus in a way they normally aren't.

really wonderful fic, thanks for sharing!

Hey

I liked this very much and yet on some level I hated it!

I recently re-read 'The more things change' so the echo was all very fresh.

First off Howard Grundy is a good name for that character. Im not sure why, I just thought it was when I read it!

I feel so bad for poor Rusty. And Danny. Because that would hurt them, and they'd never want it to happen to anyone else but it happened to them.

And I probably shouldnt be, but I was annoyed with Linus in this. Im glad he got it in the end but at the start he didnt believe them and that of course was another dark echo that would hurt them.

I liked the bit where Rusty said Danny's name and even though nobody else would have Danny heard him and he was there.

When they were explaing how they knew was sad. In every line I could hear how they weren't just describing what they saw but what they knew. What had happened to them. And Danny calls him a stupid bastard and Im pretty sure hes not just talking about the kid. And Rusty says, "Looking for approval. He hates it, but he does it anyway." I know that hes not just atlking about the kid there.

And when Grundy puts his hand on the kids shoulder and squeezes to make it hurt I remembered in 'The more things change' when Rusty's dad did it to him. I am howling.

Then there was the bit about the social workers and they really never did like them, did they?

So many painful echos. Your title was very well-chosen.

Your ending line was great. Not only Linus though. No-one could ever imagine and no-one would ever know. Because they'd never tell anyone.

Am very much looking forward to your next story and actually now that I think about it I was wondering if you were going to write the third part of 'When we were young'.

x

Really well written, this is definitely my favorite of your many wonderful universes.