Valerie Sheppard
|
Valerie Sheppard (née Durant) is John Sheppard's mother. Valerie is born to Sylvianne and Florence in France in 1949. She has two siblings, twins Benjamin and Betty born in 1951. When she is quite young, Valerie immigrates to the U.S. to work and study. There she meets and eventually marries Patrick Sheppard. They have a son, David, shortly thereafter. They live in the Sheppard Estate in Omaha, U.S.. On a trip to France to visit her parents with her young family, in 1969, Valerie gets pregnant with John.
Valerie is very protective of her family. She has a drinking problem, which she tries to hide from her children, but the older they get and the more stressed she becomes, the more it shows. John notices when he is quite small that Valerie is "always nice and calm except when Drinking From Bottles". She is more forthcoming than her husband when her sons asks questions, especially when John begins to notice his oddness as a Dæmonless person; she explains the rules and taboos about Dæmons to him. Valerie likes to listen to classical music, especially Bach, Mozart and the occasional Tchaikovsky. She often listens to it while working in the house, humming with the music. we are the raven and the ghostPatrick and Valerie are worried and horrified when no Daemon Emerges as John is born, and they wait and wait for years, causing Patrick to grow angry and distanced in his fear of this "abnormal" child. Valerie decidedly tries to support the child, and prays that the Emergence will happen soon.
The first time Valerie's Daemon speaks directly to John, John is seven years old and falls ill, bedridden for days. Pete admits to John when he is ill that "she is afraid for [him]", not of him. Over the years Valerie and Patrick begin to struggle with their relationships, fighting and arguing, especially in regard to John and his lack of Daemon. Patrick privately admits to being afraid both for and of the boy; Valerie wants to protect him. She also argues that he should go to public school and not be home schooled and isolated his whole life, but Patrick does not agree until John is eleven years old. When John is 15 and Dave about to turn 18, they decide to divorce. But before the divorce can be finalized, Valerie is killed in a shocking car accident, hit on Route 75 by a drunk lorry driver. nou ani atlantusIn January 2005, John finds out the truth - that his real father is not Patrick Sheppard. He wonders if his mother Valerie knew, if the whole family always knew but never spoke of it.
seeking antebellumJohn Sheppard is badly injured offworld in January 2006 and has a blood transfusion in Atlantis; he has inherited the same blood type as his mother.
Patrick Sheppard is on a business trip to New York in February 2006, contemplating a letter he received from John fifteen days prior. He laments that he fell out with his wife the way he did, and that she died so suddenly. Patrick visits her grave regularly to leave flowers, especially her favorite, yellow chrysanthemums. During the NCIS investigation of LC Snow's suspected murder, the name John Sheppard comes up, and Gibbs' team researches John's past. They find out his mother is a French immigrant. John Sheppard comes to Earth in February to take part of that investigation. He meets his brother, his brother's fiancée and their father aboard the Prometheus. Since John is using Ancient Communication Stones, linked directly to Rodney McKay's body, David first refuses to believe that he is John. To convince him, John reveals things that only they or their family would know, such as John tried to run away after Valerie's death and funeral in 1986 by stealing Dave's bike, only to crash it in a ditch. Later, when escaping from a Goa'uld ship with his cousin Jenny, John talks with her about the past and their families. Jenny's mother, John's aunt Patricia, was military and that was a cause for strife in the conservative family, but Valerie liked Patricia and always expressed her dislike of the feud. After John returns to Atlantis, he exchanges some emails with his father. Patrick expresses regret about the past, and says "[Valerie] was right" (about John's isolation) and that he wishes Valerie had had the chance to see John's Dæmon with her own eyes. John has mentioned his mother's death to Rodney sometime in the past. While on Earth in February-April 2006, Rodney finds a scanned newspaper with the headline "Local Businessman’s Wife Killed in Accident". |