Five Things for Jonas and Hammond, by Paian (G)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Five Things
Pairing: none
Categories: five things, gen, Jonas, General Hammond, futurefic, angst, character study
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: paian
Author's Website: Fic Index
Link: Five Things for Jonas and Hammond

Why This Must Be Read: Paian writes the most wonderful Five Things - I've recced many of them before. This pair of Five Things features Jonas Quinn and George Hammond: five times Jonas wanted to go home, and five things George did when he retired.

I very much like that Paian chose to archive these two together, for the sheer poignancy of the sharp contrast of what Jonas and Hammond face. Once Jonas walked away from Kelowna in Meridian, he never really had a home again; and in the bright and gentle future that Paian lovingly paints for George, he enjoys home in every sense of the word, in both his family and his choices.

Paian offers wincing angst with the first set and then alleviates it with sweet hope in the second. In both cases, you'll find yourself enjoying every word.

The Three Hunters by Mirabile Dictu (PG-13)

[sholio]

Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Pairing: light John/Rodney
Category: John/Rodney, team
Warning: apparent (but not actual) character death
Author on LJ: mirabile_dictu
Author's Website: Mira's Fanfiction
Link: The Three Hunters

Why This Must Be Read: This story drops you right into the middle of the action; I'll just quote the first paragraph:

"Hang on!" someone bellowed, and the ferry rolled beneath Rodney's feet. He grabbed onto John and Teyla, bending his knees to brace against the swells. Torren wailed loud enough that Rodney could hear him over the frightened roar of the crowd and the chugging engines. The ferry wallowed and for an instant Rodney thought it was sinking, it moved so slowly and steadily down. Then it sluggishly rose and turned away from land, but not fast enough, not far enough; the wave was coming toward them amidships, rising higher and higher, a solid gray wall with a thin curl of dirty white froth.

... and things don't get any better from there, as a tsunami tears apart the team and throws them into a devastated world, struggling, like the people around them, with the shell-shocked grief that comes after disaster. Despite the John/Rodney pairing, this story is heavily focused on the team and their relationships with each other (including Teyla's with Torren), and also features a wonderfully complex world and OCs that are more than just a painted backdrop on which to hang the plot.

And, of course, there's Rodney, through whose eyes the events of the story unfold: a man who cares deeply but doesn't know how to show it, who finds himself in the awkward and unaccustomed position of trying to hold together teammates torn by grief and hopelessness. The developing John/Rodney romance unfolds quietly in the background of the chaos in which they've all found themselves; it's so subtle that it actually took me awhile to figure out that it wasn't an established-relationship story, because their comfort level is so deep. It's obvious that Rodney has found his emotional center in his team and in John, but when everything's torn apart and thrown into doubt, he has to come to an even deeper and better understanding of himself and his place in the world. Best of all, this is done without extensive soul-searching or theatrics; it simply is, as Rodney and the others are swept up in events larger than themselves with a very real, human cost. I don't remember the last time I've read a story (fanfic or original) that so thoroughly captures the devastation of losing everything and then, slowly, finding the strength to pick up the pieces left behind.

Also, there is tea. Lots of tea. Because tea doesn't fix everything, but sometimes it helps.