Unnatural Strain by Peanutbutterer PG-13

[ed-84.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Het

Pairing: Teyla Emmagan/Evan Lorne, John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir
Categories: het. AU. Action/Adventure. Elizabeth Weir. John Sheppard. Sheppard/Weir. Team. Evan Lorne. Teyla Emmagan. Emmagan/Lorne.
Warnings: None.
Author on LJ: peanutbutterer.
Author's Website: Fic tags.
Link: Part One I Part Two

Why This Must Be Read: I am not a S/W fan, but as a het reader, S/W numbers overwhelm all other pairings combined and it kinda becomes impossible not to read some. And then, there's just several awesome S/W writers out there with such exceptional writing skills that they can get a person to read anything. Fantastic characterization. Great plot. Wonderful stories altogether.

peanutbutterer is one of them. And coyote_sga, the AU comm that she wrote for? Is one of the best alternate reality fanfic communities out there. I just love the whole universe set up in Coyote, with the characters recast as mutants with superpowers. It's important to be familiar with the 'verse and at least one of the other stories (Genesis) before reading this one.

There's fantastic action in this that is mindboggling. Great use of all the SGA characters and Cameron. A hefty dose of an underappreciated ship, Teyla/Lorne. And then there's the awe-inspiring characterization of every single character in it.






“What do you mean, ‘it went out’?” Cameron fumed at Rodney, pacing back and forth in the small, cramped room. He was trying to exorcise some of his anger, but it wasn’t working with Ronon and Teyla looming silently at the door and McKay hunched over one of his computers, typing furiously. He could only take three strides before he reached Ronon’s broad chest and had to turn back around. He slammed his fist into the wall. “This damn place is too small! And Ronon is too damn big! I can’t pace – I can’t think!”

“Luckily, we don’t rely on your brains,” Rodney bit back without lifting his head.

Cameron ignored the dig. “How did it go out, McKay? How did you lose them?”

“I didn’t lose them. The transmitter stopped transmitting. It went out on their end.”

“Fantastic.” He finally slowed his pacing but couldn’t seem to stay completely idle. He plunged a hand through his hair and rocked on the balls of his feet. “So, what do we do now?”

Rodney spoke distractedly, still focused on his computer. “I’m retracing their steps and trying to pinpoint their last known location. Once we isolate that, I can use their trajectory to project where they may have been headed, but it will be mostly conjecture.”

Cam sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets to hide his clenched fists. He shouldn’t have let Elizabeth go alone with Sheppard. That man was a magnet for trouble and a loose canon. And he was pretty sure they were sleeping together – which had absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it set him off for some reason, and he figured while he was listing the guy’s faults he might as well include it.

“Or,” Ronon spoke up, his gruff voice resonating off the walls of the small cabin, “we could get sent to jail.”

“Yes, yes,” Rodney snapped. “What a novel idea. Why didn’t we… oh wait we tried that already.”

Cameron watched as Ronon and Teyla shared a knowing look.

“Yes,” Teyla began calmly, “but you did not try it with us.”