Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ The Journal of One, Leon Orcot ❯ May 20, 1999 ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

May 20, 1999
I noticed that the new Star Wars opened up yesterday. And a line of eager kids were dressed as Jedi outside movie theater in the center of Amsterdam. It seems almost wrong to me, to make a new one. I dunno. I feel like the first three were fine by themselves. I remember when the first one came out in theaters. I was six years old. My father took me to see it. It was amazing. The lights, the battles the effects. It left me breathless, excited, scared and thrilled all at the same time. It was like the thrill of a roller coaster in a movie. I left that theater swinging an imaginary light saber, fully intending to become a Jedi, like all those kids who left the theater yesterday. What could be better than fighting the interstellar bad guys? Using god-like powers? Being the force of good? Being the universal police. In the end, I settled for fighting the bad guys here on earth. But I still feel like Star Wars played it's part.
It's also probably one of the better memories I had of my father. He wasn't around much. Always away on business. I loved it when he was in town, but it was never for very long. I used to pester my mom, asking her when dad would come home. “Soon,” she used to say. Then she'd get quiet and go back to making dinner or doing laundry or any of the hundred other housewife type things that she did.. After a while I stopped asking.
I didn't really understand any of it until I was in high school. In the end, my dad turned out to be kind of like Vader to my Luke. I wish I could just say that his business trips were actually 'business trips'. But it was more than that. It wasn't just women on the side. He was dipping into company funds to impress them. A nice dinner here. A new car there. An island getaway for him and his mistress for a weekend.
Eventually, everything came crashing down. He was caught. My father went to prison a few months before Chris was born. He died 6 months after from a heart attack.
Mom was realized she was pregnant the month before my dad was incarcerated. No one wanted her to have the baby, because her own health was so bad. I didn't want her to go through with it, but she was always very 'pro life'. It wasn't just her health. Some of the family didn't want Chris to be born, given that his father was now in jail, and who knew how that would affect the kid.
It also gave our family a bad rep. I was 18, looking to go to college, and I was ducking disapproving glances from my guidance counselors. 'There goes Leon Orcot. I'll bet he turns out just like his father.' At least, that's what it felt like when they looked at me.
That's why I came to California. I wanted to get as far from the East coast as possible, where no one would know who I was. That's why I became a cop. I wanted to be everything my dad wasn't. So I worked hard. I got through the academy damn near the top of my class, believe it or not. I might not have been the smartest, or toughest, but I was driven.
I never told anyone at the precinct about it. Not even Jill. I wanted to get away from my father so much that I didn't bat an eye when, after my mom died giving birth to him, my Aunt and Uncle took Chris. They knew that I was in no position to take care of a kid. And it was painful for me to deal with, mom dying and all. It wasn't Chris's fault. I didn't blame him. But it was hard.
I really don't know why I'm writing all this. This has nothing to do with D. Yeah, D and I took care of Chris for over a year, but that was after all that bullshit went down. D didn't know anything about my father. Doesn't know. I'm sure he always just wrote me off as an obnoxious, selfish, idiotic human. I think I was just an amusement for him. He probably won't care. Maybe someday, when I find him, I'll tell D all about it. For some reason, I really want to.
Den Haag is just a couple hours bike ride from here. I'm gonna grab some food, then head out. I already thanked Han-shan for his hospitality and told him I'd be back one day. Maybe he'll have more information about D by then? I know I said that I'd go see some of the 'sights' before I left, but frankly, all this daddy talk has really put me out of the mood. I don't need an easy chick. Next stop: Den Haag's Chintatown. ~ Leon

A/N: Obviously, I took several liberties with Leon's history here. I really wanted to explore where the heck Leon and Chris's father disappeared to, because Akino never really got into that, and I didn't have the impression that Leon's mom was a widow or divorcee that slept around and got knocked up. Plus I felt that having his dad be a shady character would be good motivation for Leon to be a cop, especially since Leon has always been portrayed as a strong 'force of good' (despite being girl crazy...) The Star Wars Ep 1 premiere was a nifty and convenient way to introduce the subject. ^_^