Honestly, this case is one where I just never really can look at Don in a good way... And he's the one who's not a kid anymore, not in the same way. It really hurts... A guy who could pretty much get any girl basically, decides on the one girl his brother likes. Not to say I'd care about Charlie taking her to that prom either (he is a kid still. At that age, a child basically). Kind of like the rich man who takes the poor man's only animal for himself, for food, lol. But well written as usual.

I feel for both brothers. I'm just glad they worked it out in the end. Bravo!

I would like to read more of teenage Don and also bout Charlie. Great fic. Fighting over a girl.. So sweet. Hmm. It made me think though...

Good story. at 18 they can be mature for many things and also tempestuous at any moment! Gotta love teenager Don! And I agreed, I'd love to read more about him too! :)

Of course it wasn't fair for Don. Never was. He got hurt, jealous, for sure. But he lived.
While Charlie never had a chance of a normal childhood. Never. no friends at the same age, no girlfriends, no prom... He paid a high price for being a genius. I don't even know if he knows all he missed...
But Don does... that's why he takes so good care of his baby brother.

I'll always miss them. Thanks for this story!

Great story!

This reminds me of fighting with my little sister when we were kids. She was always the one who started it, always. (Or rather she was always the first one to get physical.) For example, she would wait until I turned to leave the room after winning the verbal argument and then kick me in the back and then when I turn back to tell her to knock it off she would start shoving or hitting me. Then the minute I shoved back or knocked her down to force her to stop she'd go screaming for our mother and I'd be the one in trouble because I was older. There wasn't even as big an age difference between my sister and I as there was between Charlie and Don. Plus, I was always small for my age while she was big for hers so we were always roughly the same size. Sometimes being in the wrong for no reason other than being the older child really sucks.

Of course, I have an older brother so I've been on the other side of that as well. I went to the graduation party of a mutual friend with him once and we came home 3 hours later than our parents were expecting. (Due to an honest misunderstanding. It wasn't even dinner time yet.) He totally got reamed for it and I got off scott free. I actually think they would have been more lenient about the 3 hours late thing with him if he'd been late on his own. But because I was with him they came down harder than usual.

I've always enjoyed young Don/Charlie fics, and I loved how you did the story from the mom's point of view.

I can't imagine how bad high school would be for both of them. My sister chose to go to a different high school to avoid being somebody's 'little sister' and we were all 'normal'. You've done a great job of capturing that frustration.

Great story; a nice insight into the brothers' childhood and leaves you feeling sorry for both in very different ways.

It must have been very hard for Don to grow up feeling second best, always in the shadows of his brother. School was a refuge for him and he didn't even have that when Charlie started the same high school. Equally, it must have been difficult for Charlie to mix with kids five years his senior when even a year is enough to divide children. He might have had a crush on this girl but only in his thirteen-year-old mind did he think he had a chance with her.

That was really nice. I love the mother's perspective - written with a lot of thought and insight. Thanks!

i loved it! great job

My goodness. So well written, so in character, the ammount of innocence...as Larry said, "I enjoy the picture of a young Charles Eppes moved to violence because of a girl"...er, or something like that.

In the grammatic part, some things are questionable, but nothing major.

You got the naive thirteen year old thing down pat. It was very believable to me that in fifteen years or so, that awkward little boy would become Charlie. It's just something I can see very clearly, not something you see often in flashbacks.

Don? Well, you really didn't put much dialogue in for Don, but with body language, character descriptions, you too created a more immature Don that we can immagine. The usual high school bad-boy with a few issues, and also suffering the other side of favortism. So that was well done, even though we hardly see him.

Alan and his wife...I love it. She seems to be the perfect partner for Alan, very believable, and you did her character GREAT. Mrs. Eppes would have to be caring, and sensitive mainly to her youngest, while slightly concerned for Don. We do get the idea in the show that Charlie was raised more by his mother, and Don was raised more by Alan, which also makes Charlie even more isolated after her death. You see Alan trying to be fair, but also going to Don first. Key to set up that scene earlier.

All in all, if you made it through that review, great. If you didn't, I was basically saying good job with lots of extra words.

Aw...that was great! I love Charlie trying to beat up his brother. Great work!

I have to say, it was quite a wonderful one shot. It's nice to see how loving Charlie and Don's mother could be, if we ever saw her in the show. I'm trying to write one from Margaret Eppes point of view as well, but I have to say this beats whatever I've got so far. I will be waiting to see what you come up with next!

Loved it on the list and love it now. Great writing. I love the emotions Mom experiences while watching her boys- not too overdone. Alan is the perfect father, willing to let the boys work it out but interfering when things get too rough. And poor Charlie... we can really feel his pain as well.

Excellent job, thanks for sharing!

Emily