I was thinking about how much I HATE William for being the worst father on the planet and feeling all bad for Desmond, and I thought, hey, I need a story where William gets his comeuppance and Desmond gets to be happy.

Really, that's it. If you want to torture William, I'm okay with that, but as long as he gets knocked down a peg and loses his influence on Desmond, I'm happy. I want strong, overcoming adversity Desmond.

If you're going the pairing route, I'm partial to Shaun/Desmond, but no pairing necessary if you don't want to have one.