Work Text:
Gideon’s journey in preaching began where his dad’s ended.
☆☆☆
It was fitting that the Gemstone children, ever codependent, die side-by-side. When their time came, they argued over who got to be the martyr that saved everyone. Their inability to ever come to a concrete decision, as well as the fierce protectiveness they felt for one another, ended up getting them all killed. They went down together, holding hands.
Eli returned to church. Someone needed to take charge. Gideon joined him, taking up his duty as the eldest Gemstone of the next generation. He always knew he would be up on stage preaching someday, but he didn’t think that someday would come so soon.
Keefe was the first to leave. 2 months after Kelvin’s death he had all he could take of the empty house. He packed up and moved to Alabama, where he started The Kelvin Gemstone Center for Queer Youth in Montgomery. All that time as Kelvin’s assistant youth pastor, and later Prism collaborator, had made it easy for him to connect with the runaway teens that made their way through. Kelvin had taught Keefe how to truly connect with other people and how to use God’s word to spread love and tolerance.
BJ left next. He moved in with Baby Billy and Tiffany to help them in raising their legion of children. He had never gotten the chance to start a family with Judy, so he made it his mission to raise the Freeman children as best he could in her memory. He would tell them about their fierce aunt who always stood up for herself. A woman who carved her own path, no matter the pushback she received from others. BJ and Tiffany would stay up late at night after putting the kids to bed, looking at pictures of the siblings. They were often joined by Baby Billy, who would regale them with stories of his niece and nephews' youth.
Pontius finally got his act together. His last show of rebellion against his father was becoming a better person when his dad wasn’t there to witness it. Though, in the back of his mind, he hoped the man was somewhere looking down at him, proud of who he had become. He got his GED and went to college. He met a nice girl and got married young, just like his parents had. He settled down into a typical southern suburban life, with a good job and a big family. Abraham followed him and took the nonreligious route as well. Their family’s church had caused enough grief in their lifetime, what with all the threats, kidnapping and death it seemed to bring. They decided to move on.
Amber stayed. She had nowhere else to go. Jesse Gemstone had been her life for over 20 years. So she continued on as she always did. She led couples counseling, she sat in the front row every Sunday and she acted like everything was perfectly perfect in her life. If it took her a glass of wine and an Ambien to fall asleep every night, that was nobody's business but hers.
☆☆☆
Gideon continued to receive wisdom from his Granddad. Soon enough he was giving sermons on Sunday and sitting in on business deals. But no matter how much he gave himself to Gemstone Ministries, he still felt like something was missing. He still had that feeling in his chest that had led him to California all those years ago. Like the life he was living wasn’t enough. Like what he was doing wasn’t what he was meant to.
Every night after dinner with his Mom, Gideon would take his bike and go for a ride out on the country roads. One evening when he was riding too fast and not paying enough attention, he hit a rock in the road. Gideon went flying through the air and hit his head against a tree, knocking him unconscious.
He came to after being shaken awake by a stranger. The first thing Gideon noticed was the man’s strange appearance. He had mutton chops and was dressed in a vest, dress shirt and trousers. His shoes were so well-polished that they shone in the falling sunlight.
“Alright there son?” The stranger asked.
Gideon groaned from the ground. “I guess I didn’t realize just how fast I was going,” he said, rubbing the sore spot on his forehead. He lifted his head to look for the man’s car, hoping to get a ride back to the compound, but there was nothing on the road except for his overturned bike.
“Say,” Gideon the confusion clear in his voice, “what’s your name stranger?”
“Why, I’m Elijah Gemstone. Though most call me Reverend. Or, well, called me Reverend, I reckon,” he said, sticking out his hand for Gideon to pull himself up.
The younger man took it, slowly getting himself into a comfortable position against the very tree that had hurt him. “I must have taken a harsher spill than I thought,” he said, looking at the man with his eyes open wide in shock.
In his lessons with his Granddad, Gideon had learned all about his family’s history. And if his memory served him right, the man of his Grandad’s namesake, the one who started it all, was standing right in front of him.
“Did I die in that wipeout? Are you here to take me to heaven?” Gideon asked, fear filling his voice. He doesn’t think his mom could take another death in the family, not so soon after his dad.
Elijah laughed. “Well, it sure would be cruel of the Lord to make you feel as much pain as you do right now in death. No son, you’re alive. Though, you do have me to thank for that. I made sure your landing wasn’t too harsh. I’ve been watching you for some time, Gideon Gemstone.”
Surely, I have to have a concussion or something, Gideon thought. No way is his great-great-great-great grandfather standing right in front of him.
“Well you must be sitting there, wondering why I’m here,” Elijah laughs, as if reading his thoughts. “You see, in my early days, I didn’t live the most… honest life. But I changed my ways down the road, gave my life to God as best I could. Now I have to spend a few thousand years atoning for my sins so I can join Him in heaven. I guess a little more time spent on Earth is better than eternity in Hell.”
Elijah went on to tell Gideon all about the years he spent gambling and stealing to get by in life. About how he killed a preacher and ended up taking his job as chaplain. He spoke of the boys he watched die, the gore he had witnessed, the devastation of war he had the displeasure of seeing firsthand. Of the man he killed to keep his cushy job within the army secure.
He sat down next to Gideon, who was still pretty sore from his spill, and explained how being a man of God saved him, literally. How he had fully expected his life to come to an end in that field with the rest of the captured Confederates, but was spared because he was “holy”. From then on out, Elijah gave himself to God. He read his gold Bible front to back, and then he did that a couple more times. When the war ended, he settled down just outside of Atlanta, building a church in a small town that had been torched by Yanks.
He met a young widow there, a girl by the name of Sarah Bell. Her husband had died in Virginia just four months after they were married. Elijah and Sarah ended up having 5 children together, and all 3 of their sons went on to preach across the South. Despite becoming a real man of the Lord, Elijah’s greedy ways never left him. He took more than he should’ve and gave even less. His bloodline carried on, all too controlled by their vices.
His son Noah went on to be plagued by lust, sleeping with just about half of the women in Tennessee. Noah’s son Luke was filled with anger, an anger he passed down to his son Roy. Roy’s son, Gideon’s Grandad, was afflicted with a mixture of anger, greed and pride, which he gave to Jesse tenfold.
“Gideon, you don’t have to end up like us. You’re not weighed down by any–”
“But what about when I was eighteen?” Gideon rushed out, interrupting Elijah. Gideon often would lay awake at night, haunted by the actions of his past. Blackmailing his father, feeding into Scotty’s desire for cash. He wasn’t the one to pull the trigger, but he still feels he bears the responsibility for his fellow stuntman’s death. He could’ve stopped Scotty and his Thai pipedream all the way back in California. But, he had instead agreed to the plan. He was the one to lead Scotty to South Carolina.
“You made up for that, didn’t you? Or were you in Haiti for the sun?” Elijah countered.
“But what do I do? How do I make the Gemstones good?” Gideon asks, desperation filling his voice. His family, while doing the good work of spreading the word of God, had also done a lot of bad things. Like, a lot. How could he ever right all of their wrongs?
“I suggest you start here.” Elijah holds out a small, golden book. Gideon takes it in his hands and sees that it’s the Bible from Elijah’s story.
“But where do I start?” He asks, looking up from the heavy book in his hands.
“How about where God did. At the beginning.” And with that, he was gone in the blink of an eye. Gideon puts the book in his pocket, picks up his bike, and starts making the slow trek home.
That night, he read his new Bible front to back, and then he does that a couple more times.
☆☆☆
Eli Gemstone dies two weeks before his oldest grandson’s 26th birthday. He went peacefully in the night, going to sleep and never waking up. Gideon performs his burial rites. He leaves a significant portion of his fortune to Martin, who had loyally stayed with him through thick and thin. The man who had given his entire life to the Gemstones was finally able to enjoy the rest of his life relaxing with his wife. He allocated money to his children’s partners, giving to them what he had intended to give to Jesse, Judy and Kelvin.
To the surprise of no one, he left his church to Gideon. However, to the surprise of everyone, Gideon announced at his first service that he would be stepping down from his position. He’d be passing the leadership role to a young preacher, a man by the name of Matthew Alden.
Amber doesn’t speak to him for two months.
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With his new free time, Gideon set about trying to fulfill the quest for Gemstone righteousness that Elijah had set him on. No matter how many times he reads his Bible, the answer of how to rectify his family’s past never comes to him. He studies, he prays, he begs to be given the answer.
One night, after a long day of biblical analysis, Gideon takes a walk through his Granddad’s garden. He feels lost more than ever. More than when he had run away, more than when he had gotten hurt and had to kiss his stuntman dreams goodbye, and more than when his dad had died. What did God want him to do?
As he nears the monument of his grandmother, Gideon spots someone standing by the water. He does a double take, and sure enough is none other than Jesse Gemstone there, looking fondly at his Mama.
“It’s to my understanding that you’re feeling a little astray on your path right now,” Jesse says, turning his gaze to his son.
Tears begin to fill Gideon’s eyes. “You could say that again,” he says with a watery laugh. Despite everything his dad had done, his death still had left a hole in his heart that has yet to be refilled.
“Did I ever tell you the story of how your Mama and I chose your name?” Jesse asks as his son makes his way over. With a shake of Gideon’s head, he begins to explain, “Obviously, we wanted to go with something from the Bible. We’re fucking Gemstones, of course.”
Gideon huffs out another teary chuckle as Jesse continues.
“Your Mama and I combed through Christian baby books, surfed the web, consulted your Granddaddy, but we just couldn’t find one that felt right. Finally, one day when I was getting ready to do a sermon at Sunday service, I found it. There it was in the Book of Judges, the perfect name for my firstborn son. Gideon, a man of courage and faith. The one that saved the kingdom of God. Do you remember what Gideon did?”
Gideon thinks hard for a moment. “Defeated the Midianites?” He’s not sure of the lesson that is trying to be imparted onto him. Who did his dad want him to fight?
Jesse nods his head and continues, “And in doing that, he saved the people of Israel from their idolatry. He got them to stop worshiping shit that didn’t matter. He became a leader that fully and authentically gave himself to God. Maybe you could do something similar. Pick up where I so deeply failed. You don’t have to be just another Gemstone. Be our hero, son.”
Tears begin to fill Gideon’s eyes again. “I miss you, Dad.” He reaches out for the man, but just like that his father is gone with the wind. He falls to the ground and cries. Why was this responsibility thrust upon him? Why did he have to be the one to fix the failings of his family? He cries until he can’t cry anymore, gathers himself, and sets off home.
That night, he dreams of Haiti. Of the chapel that he helped build with his dad when he was there. Just four walls and a roof. He wakes up knowing what he has to do.
☆☆☆
He sells the church. His mom doesn’t speak to him for six months this time.
Investors are eager to buy from him, but fail to realize that without the Gemstone name, people no longer flock in on Sundays like they used to. The empire finally crumbles. Zion’s Landing shuts down and the church files for bankruptcy.
Gideon takes the money he got from the sale and buys a small plot of land not far from the family compound. He uses what little he can to build a simple church and a small house next to it, then gives the rest to Keefe to start more shelters with. He trusts the man to use the money to do some real good.
Slowly, people start to come. At first, they are drawn in by his last name, then more and more start to come not because he is a Gemstone, but because of his sermons.
His mom is there every Sunday, sitting in the front row. It took her a while to come to terms with the life Gideon had chosen, but that doesn't mean she isn’t a proud mother. She throws herself into her son’s church, organizing potlucks and Bible studies. During women's group one night she meets a young, fiery girl from a farm up road. Like herself, she doesn’t come from money.
She’s honest, she’s funny, and most importantly to Amber, she’s beautiful. As any good mother would, she quickly introduces the girl to her son. The two get on like a house on fire.
Their wedding is small and reserved. Amber tried to make it a big show, but Gideon made it clear he was sick of the taste of the silver spoon and wanted to live a simple life.
Every Sunday, Gideon gets up in front of his congregation and preaches with his whole soul. For the first time in his life, he feels a sense of contentment.
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And my greatest joy is knowing that my children walk in truth
And that they are giving you Lord of their fire and strength of youth
Yes, I’ve found the greatest joy in my salvation
Is knowing that my children walk in truth
- "My Children Walk in Truth" by Johnny Cash