Naquadah Tipped Warheads & Banana Smoothies, The General, The Colonel... by A.M. Richardson (PG-13)

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Rec Category: Het
Pairing: Samantha Carter/Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter/OMC
Category: Het, Samantha Carter, Samantha Carter/Jack O'Neill, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Daniel Jackson & Sam Carter friendship, Samantha Carter/OMC, Original character
Warning: The disappearance and possible death of a major character, realities of pregnancy and birth, mild mention of sex
Author on LJ: http://aud-iris.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/502913/A_M_Richardson
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4386759/1/ and http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4526274/1/

Why This Must Be Read: I love the bittersweet angst and realistism of Naquadah Tipped Warheads & Banana Smoothies and its sequel, The General, The Colonel, Their Child and His Mother by A.M. Richardson. This series is set in season nine SG-1 when Sam is still at Area-51. She discovers she is pregnant a month or so after Jack disappears off-world. She copes with missing Jack and the strangeness of pregnancy after forty with the help of their friends and by keeping a journal of her pregnancy and motherhood to give Jack when, not if, she insists, he is found so that he doesn't miss out on anything.

Though Jack doesn't appear in the first story, the emotions in Sam's journal entries makes him feel very much present. The journal is a clever conceit and and both stories are beautifully written, complicated, messy and sad, very much like real life. Sam finds herself doing things she never thought she'd do and yet unable to master the seemingly simple. Her grief for Jack and at being cheated out of their finally arrived life together is palpable yet somehow the overall tone is very hopeful. There's a lot of humor (Sam is not good at being pregnant or being a new mother) and Daniel in particular shines as the best friend she (or the missing Jack) could hope to have.

The author could have stopped with the first fic and the end would have worked perfectly but did a sequel by popular demand. The first story is wrenchingly sad and proof that babyfic can exist without being saccharine. The sequel gives a happier ending and more closure for those who need it.

Cutting the Gordian Knot by katstales (PG)

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Rec Category: John Sheppard & Teyla Emmagan friendship
Pairing: None
Category: John Sheppard & Teyla Emmagan friendship, Quantum mirror universe, Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard, Gen, Dark, Alternate Universe, Apocafic, Action/adventure
Warning: disturbing themes
Author on LJ: http://katstale.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.geocities.com/katstales_77/ or http://www.fanfiction.net/u/589677/katstales
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4292421/1/

Why This Must Be Read: John and Teyla's friendship is my favorite part of Stargate Atlantis so it's a pleasure to share with you some of the many wonderful stories centered around their bond. An oldie but goodie is Cutting the Gordian Knot by katstales, a quite powerful and dark story. John and Teyla are making a routine pickup at a trading partner when they discover the village destroyed and everyone dead except a lone woman who tells Teyla that John did it and took all the children of the village. Even if John hadn't been with her at the time, Teyla would never believe that her best friend could be capable of such an act and tells the survivor so. The only problem is that thanks to the use of an alternate reality mirror, a John Sheppard did do it and is still lurking around. Teyla must figure out what is going on, deal with him and save herself and John, who's been knocked out by his doppelganger. What would make ANY John Sheppard commit such acts? Does Teyla have it within herself to hurt a John Sheppard, even one that has gone so far off the reservation?

This story goes to some very unexpected places and has interesting things to say about morality. Teyla's characterization is excellent; she is strong, brave, empathetic and wise. Her John and the other Sheppard are equally well-written.The John and Teyla friendship is strongly and warmly presented and brightens what could have been a very sad story.

( A snippet.... )