FIC: Secret Meetings (Oz, PG)

[vanillalime]

Title: Secret Meetings
Main Characters: Victoria Beecher, Swanny, Gaetano Cincetta
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,808
Summary: With the help of a friend, Toby's mother delivers the payment to Pancamo's hitman hired to kill Hank Schillinger.
Notes: Both Swanny (Harrison Beecher's private investigator) and Gaetano Cincetta (Pancamo's hitman) are named-but-

Comments

[cmk418]

Love this. And I love the picture you paint of Victoria here. There are layers to her character that the show doesn't touch and it's refreshing to see. I like how you fleshed out the other two characters as well. Beautifully done and a nice companion piece to your Magi fic.

[vanillalime]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for such nice feedback. :-)

I'm fascinated by Toby's mother in the show. I love that scene when she talks about attending Adam Guenzel's funeral and being secretly glad that Adam's family now has a taste of what her life has been like. She obviously has the same self-centered dark side that Toby has, and it was fun to dig into it and explore it. Her grief and anger over Gary's death was the perfect impetus for showing what she's capable of.

[drsquidlove]

YAYYYY!

I love that Victoria keeps counting the cash. Yes, that is so exactly what I would do.

I love Swanny's guilt over finding Hank.

I love him because he doesn't try to take the job of handing the money over from Victoria. It's her job, and he's just there to support her.

I loooove that she wants Hank to suffer. None of Toby's weasely dithering. Just fuck him up.

Awww, when he pulls his arm away, and you know he has feelings for her, it's so lovely! Just for this one night, but only this night out of his whole life, he gets to savour being the one she trusts and he's going to silently play a little make believe that it's a date when they go for a drink.

I love it, Vanilla. I love what you do with her.

[vanillalime]

Thanks so much, Squid! I was so hoping you'd enjoy this! The story has been slowly percolating inside me for the last five months. When I finally sat down to write it, it was relatively quick and easy because I'd played the whole thing out in my head so many times

[drsquidlove]

I think maybe Swanny's dad worked for Harrison's father. I like to imagine deep family entanglement. :-)

Hank brutally murdered your child, Toby! He deserves to die!

Yeah. That was a bit I wasn't fully sold on. The show really worked to earn Toby's forgiveness of Chris and Vern, but I don't think they earned Toby suddenly putting principles ahead of his young child's hand being cut off. The idea that seeing emotionally scarred Holly would hit his philosophical, rational buttons rather than his protective dad button is pretty nonsensical.

And, even in the midst of watching a show about justice, and being against government death penalty, I have absolute zero judgment for a parent murdering the guy who brutally murdered their little kid. Can't summon one tiny scrap of disapproval.

[vanillalime]

Fontana said once in an interview about Oz that he is "against the death penalty until he's for it" (paraphrasing). Meaning, he's against capital punishment in principle, until he hears or reads of someone doing something so heinous that he hopes they receive the most brutal punishment possible. I think a lot of people feel that way

[suespur]

What they said. I hope you play in this sandbox again!

[vanillalime]

Thanks, Sue! Writing not just one, but multiple stories about a show's barely existing characters is the mark of a truly obsessive fan. And that is a badge of honor I will wear proudly! :D

[shabby86]

Loved this! It’s wonderful reading about things that happened off camera. Like everyone has said, you did a wonderful job filling out the characters. I, too, think Victoria would feeling guilty for not attempting to stop Toby from drinking and driving... for not arguing he has and has had a problem.

Although the situation was nothing to be amused by, I couldn’t help chuckling at the fries and ketchup analogy.

[vanillalime]

Thank you, Shabby! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this!

There's a brief passing mention in Toby's scene with Judge Lema that he had a prior arrest for DUI, so it's not like the accident with Kathy Rockwell was his family's first clue that he had a problem with alcohol. Then there's another scene between Toby and his father where his father says they feel like Toby's alcoholism is somehow their fault. I sort of put those scenes together and had them in the back of my mind when developing Victoria's character here. But I could also see Victoria feeling guilty about NOT feeling guilty (if that makes sense) as she goes about avenging Gary's murder. While Toby sometimes displays Harrison's sense of justice, I think ultimately he is very much his mother's son.

I'm so glad you found a bit of humor here! I tried to include some (like with the dumb Mayflower joke) to lighten the mood a little. I also tried to pattern Cincetta after Pancamo, who I think is one of the funniest characters in the show. ;-)

[shabby86]

Yes! From brief interactions and when Toby talks about his family, they knew he had a problem. They knew one day something tragic would happen because Toby was drunk. Their social status was more important. In my opinion, his parents should feel some guilt from not getting Toby treatment. At the same time, Toby’s a grown man and it’s his responsibility to have stepped up

[vanillalime]

They knew one day something tragic would happen because Toby was drunk. Their social status was more important.

I'm not sure about Toby's parents, but I think that's definitely true of Genevieve. And I think her guilt over that was at least a contributing factor to her suicide (a development I always took issue with, since Fontana never gave us a clear reason why a woman with no history of mental illness would take her life as some kind of "revenge" tactic against her ex-husband, leaving behind 3 small children).