Background

When I first wrote Fortune, the idea was to tie up the In Between Days series.

Fortune

I was not tired of the characters or of their situations, but it seemed as if they needed an end point. Furthermore, I was thinking about the canon episode, These Are The Voyages, and trying to make some sense of it. I came to the conclusion that the professional writers wanted some end of series closure and they also wanted some ownership of the fate of what was possibly the most popular character.

Therefore, I decided to create some closure for my characters. These would be the main characters only (at the time, Pamela Hudson was still not considered to be a main character), e. g. Doug Beckett, Leonora Digiorno, Melissa Madden, Lili O’Day, and Malcolm Reed. Four of the characters had already had a story more or less assigned (albeit not completely devoted) to them. Lili’s story was in Reversal, Malcolm’s was in Intolerance, Melissa’s was in Together and Doug’s was in Temper. Therefore, this story would go to Leonora.

Plot

When Temper ends, Lili has some surprising and wonderfully good news for Malcolm. When Fortune starts, Malcolm is processing it. Jonathan Archer asks him what’s wrong. But nothing is wrong – everything is very, very right, but it’s also rather private. A joyful celebration is held, and the family is then reunited for Declan‘s birth. The family sweetly dreams together, and the relationships are reinforced. These are between Melissa and Leonora, Doug and Melissa, Lili and Doug, and Malcolm and Lili.

Billie Holliday singing God Bless the Child

Leonora in particular has a wonderfully vivid dream of Billie Holliday singing “God Bless the Child“.

It seems like everything is right.

But there are storm clouds on the horizon. There is unfinished business, and it needs to come to a resolution before the family can truly move forward.

Music

• Billie Holliday – “God Bless the Child”
• Louis Armstrong – “Wonderful World”
• “La Petite Poule Grise”
• Marvin Gaye – “Let’s Get it On”
• John Cougar Mellencamp –“I Need a Lover”
• Billy Joel –“Honesty”
• Joe Jackson – “Get that Girl”
• Elvis Costello – “Every day I write the Book”
• Bruce Springsteen –“Prove it all Night”
• Fleetwood Mac –“Dreams”
• Sister Hazel – “All for You”

Story Postings

You can find Fortune here:

• Fortune on Ad Astra
• Fortune on Fanfiction.net
• In addition, Fortune on Fictionpad
• Fortune on Wattpad
• Also, Fortune in In Between Days context
• Fortune in Times of the HG Wells context
• Finally, Fortune in Hall of Mirrors context

Rating

The story is rated M.

Upshot or, What’s Your Fortune?

Too many specifics will mean revealing too many spoilers. Suffice it to say, the story does not end the series. I am happy to continue these stories. Because I want to give these characters and their overall family their measures of forever. So that is either in this life or in whatever may or may not come beyond.

Fortune Cookie

I am proud of this story and hope it does the characters justice.