Ridley, you must get tired of hearing this from me but.... yep... you have done it again! Hugely insightful piece with witty clever dialogue that never wavers in painting a picture of your three dimensional characters. The look behind John's eyes is amazing, his regret is touching, the fact that he feels there is no other choice in how to behave is maddeningly tragic. How you paint this all too human flawed hero - brilliant.

Loved that just about everyone called John on his methods of training; Bobby's blunt advice on how to truly get the point across to Caleb and Dean, Dean actually leveling an accusation at his Father and Caleb finally letting go of his Hero worship of John; though I believe he will always respect his mentors skills and commitment, if not always his methods. Hell, even Sam was giving him grief by ignoring him! The genius in your story is that you laid bare all the reasons that people find it hard to maintain sympathy with John, but then like your characters, you give us those small grains of humanity that show us that this man is worthy of our sympathy. Loved that he threw up after the guilt trip he lay on Dean, and the fact that he felt grief over the loss of Caleb's rose coloured glasses. This summed it up for me;

"He knows it is as much a product of his success as a mentor as it is a tribute to his failure as a parent"

Great story- also enjoying To the Victor enormously. Thanks for the read.

I can't tell you how much I love to read anything you write.  Especially the brotherhood.  You are one of the few authors that just completely captivate me with dialog alone.  Not that your action stories aren't great but it's stuff like this oneshot that truly show off your talent.  Loved everything about it and as always, I look forward to more - ;)

Great story... but all the roads to hell are paved with good intentions right? however, i love John's flawed character. not every parent can be perfect and i'm not sure that anyone else would have done things differently when placed in a position like his.