Timeline/World: Birds of a Feather – To Serve and Protect
Characters: Joseph Steinz
Race: Human
Age: 53
Final Word Count: 548 words
I was raised to be a protector. I came from a family of bodyguards and I was taught everything I was meant to know from a tender age. How to protect, the ways to do it, how to hold a gun, clean the gun, take a clean shot at someone, how to be intimidating—not that this one was a class but according to my father it was a must know. Everything in my life had been about keeping my charge safe and sitting still had always made me anxious, I couldn’t do it.
I ended up raising Timothy much the same way, my charge had a son of his own born about ten or so years after mine was and it made sense to have him look after Anton from the beginning. I do regret it a little due to how dependent on one another they became but there’s no fixing that now and they are doing better.
When I was forced into the Program, things just went to hell for me. I had to step away from the man I’d been protecting all my life, the man, I admit, I was in love with and say what you want, it hadn’t made me any less professional in my protection of him, it was unrequited as it was. I had to step away from my son, from my life, from everything I’d ever known and into a little, lost town somewhere that should have been almost like a vacation for all the sun and the sand but I hated it.
I hated not really having anything to do; I hated this restless feeling that came over me within the first few days of being out there. I was aware it was for my own protection until the trial had run its course—and it took years!—but I still hated every moment of it until Jean was back at my side.
Mind you, I did cheat. I should never have gotten back in touch with him but I had to. He was my reason for breathing and being, I suppose, in a way, I did start my job as his protector early enough on that my sanity might have been somewhat dependent on his presence as well.
With Jean back at my side, however, things just smoothed out. Sure, there were some new scars I wasn’t exactly happy to have but those had come from doing the job I’d been assigned here and it had been a lot more difficult than anything else should have been, my heart just hadn’t been into it because I was away from all that mattered to me and I had a few incidents until I did get myself back on track and I focused better. It made my boss at the time happy and it did give me something to focus on during a few hours of the day.
It wasn’t really enough but it was all I had and I wanted to go back home so badly that I would have faced a potential shot to the head if it had meant being around all those things I’ve been familiar with all my life.
At least, now, I have everything I need and want with me, so I’m all right.
Works of JD Beckett 