I think you're right. But I guess I also think that John's been hurt in the past, like his relationships with his father and brother, in ways that make him think he could do the same, because of his own hurt, and maybe also out of a misguided sense of wanting to protect Alex? Because in my back-story for this, when his parents divorced, he went with his mom and Dave stayed with his dad, and I think that's kind of stuck with him somehow, in ways that I clearly can't actually articulate, hence the rambling!