Sequelae by The Spike (R)

[sholio]

Hi, I'm friendshipper and I'm reccing Hurt/Comfort this month, because there are so many excellent h/c stories in this fandom that it would be an awful shame to let the category die!

Rec Category: Hurt/Comfort
Pairing: none in original story (John/Teyla in sequel)
Category: gen, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Warning: future AU
Author on LJ: spike21
Author's Website: n/a
Link: Sequelae
(There is also a sequel by harret_spy - the original is entirely gen unless you wish to read more into it; the sequel is John/Teyla.)

Why This Must Be Read: This is a future AU that branches off canon at "Adrift". In this reality, John and Rodney's fight over Elizabeth's nanites widened into a permanent rift and then an uncrossable chasm when Atlantis was lost and the gate closed forever. With his life shattered, Rodney turns his back on the Stargate program and builds a life for himself on Earth -- but then John Sheppard, the person he never wants to see again, turns up on his doorstep with a desperate problem: the retrovirus from "Conversion" is affecting him again, and this time there is no Pegasus Galaxy for a miracle cure. Rapidly running out of options, John turns to Rodney despite their estrangement in the hopes that Rodney can, one more time, pull off the impossible.

I rec'd this awhile back in the John/Rodney friendship category, but it's also a wonderful h/c story that deserves to be rec'd again -- there's h/c galore, both emotional and physical, as John's deterioration begins to strip down his layers of emotional armor and lay bare his deep trust and affection for Rodney, buried under years of anger and pain. Their friendship may be shattered on the surface, but the rock-solid roots underneath it go too deep to be destroyed, and your heart will break for them both as they slowly begin to understand what they've lost and to recognize the possibility that it can be rebuilt.

The original story is complete in itself (I feel) but there is a sequel that continues the events of this 'verse and gives some closure to open plot threads in the original story.

Comments

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Great choice. This is a bitterly painful yet very rewarding story. I adore the sequel and had planned to rec it for John and Teyla. This makes the timing even more perfect. I'm torn on whether it should be for John/Teyla or John and Teyla friendship. Thoughts?

I also love how the author writes Keller here, catching how in some ways she has grown up at last but in others she remains as indecisive and self-questioning as ever. I also like how complicated all three characters' feelings are on the Stargate program.

I would agree on the story being a complete arc without the sequel EXCEPT I missed the team so much here that I assumed that there would be, really that there had to be, a sequel to deal with that. I think their missing team members' absence is one of the most visceral and painful of John and Rodney's wounds that the author so beautifully makes the reader experience along with them. Without the sequel, this ends in a much darker and sadder place.

[sholio]

*nods* I liked how she handled Keller, too. And Radek. It's a wonderfully complicated, ambiguous story. (this part is span-texted for story spoilers; highlight to read) When I originally read it, I basically saw it as a tragedy with a Butch Cassidy-esque ending, and I think that's a large part of why I consider it complete. But I'm glad there is a happy ending for those that want one. :)

I think the sequel is pretty unambiguously John/Teyla as a pairing, but I don't see why it couldn't be rec'd in either category provided that it's noted, if rec'd as friendship, that it also includes that pairing. *shrugs* I've rec'd stories in friendship categories that had a friendship turning into a pairing over the course of the story or in another story in the same 'verse; I don't think it's required that it needs to be gen.