You don't suck at all! You're full of win. :)

I'm so pleased you said (in the comments on the recc) that it's kind of your default personal canon for that year. I had a comment chat with paian about this, before I wrote it, and there just seemed to be certain things that would naturally have to happen, the more we thought about it. There were certain things he'd have to go through (moving out, etc), and certain ways that Jack reacts to Big Bad Emotional Stuff. Since then, I really, really wanted to write it.

So, thank you for the recc!