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I haven't updated the good stuff for a while, not because there hasn't been any good stuff because oh wow there has, but because I just couldn't be bothered. But I'm jetting off next week for who knows how long and will be without my daily dose of McShep! I don't know how I'll cope when I'm unable to read stories like Sunny California by Mystic - an awesome AU where Rodney is a snarky, cranky veterinarian and John is a retired pro surfer and The Road To Nevada by Larmadeuse, another AU set in 1938 which is also completely amazing.

MVP by Speranza in which John has a deathwish and Rodney has a freak out. Scenes from an Accidental Courtship by ToraK where it all starts with an accidental kiss. All Hallow's....Something by Sajinn a cool Halloween story where John and Rodney end up in a strange hallucination after falling into a magic mushroom. John's an acrobat, Rodney's a clown and they're on a mission for General Weir. Can they visit every house before the night is over?
Untalented And Completely Unprepared, But Giving It His Best Shot Anyway where Sheppard really, really hates bugs.
I don't normally read WIP's because I can't stand waiting around for the next chapter of a story I've really gotten into but after reading the first chapter of A Regency SGA Tale I just couldn't stop myself from continuing. After all with a description like this "John Sheppard is determined to bring to ruin the villainous McKay family. But young (ok, youngish) Rodney interferes with his plans" how could anyone resist? And finally in today's slashy good stuff is Romancing Rodney (Or, Ronan Dex Gets His Man) where Ronan hilariously attempts to woo Rodney in Harlequin style.

"I see." Rodney’s face still showed irritation in every line, but his body language seemed to alter ever so slightly so his arms now appeared to be hugging his chest in an oddly defensive gesture. "Ronon? Colonel?"
John stared at his friend blankly and his mind raced as he thought of something to say. Somehow he had a feeling that 'Well, you see, McKay, Ronon's decided that out of *everyone* here on base, the person he'd most like to see naked and sweaty is you! So how about it, feel like taking one for the team?' wasn't going to help the situation. He stared blankly some more. "Uh…."
"He mocked my fighting skills." Ronon realised it was all up to him to save the day when John continued to look helplessly vacant and Teyla remained stubbornly silent. He glared at John and then at Rodney, who looked startled and took a hasty step back at the ferocious snarl. "Said that I was letting myself get sloppy now I lived here."

Ok that was the slash. Now for the gen! Down Came A Spider by Tipper. Woo Hoo! I love this girl! Seriously she should be a writer on the show her fics are just amazing. The Reluctant Hero by Kodiak Bear Country where Rodney battles storms and appendicitis to save the team. The Lost Colony a cross over with Numb3rs by Joolz where Charlie uses his mad math skillz, Don tags along and geekouts ensue.

Bell Curve by Pru (slashity slash) a sweet, funny AU where John is so *not* Rodney's hot stripper boyfriend thank you very much. Also see follow up Learning Curve.

Rodney puffed up. "I was not," he said, and glared at John. "Tell her the truth! You--there was nudity! And strobe lights! There was a pole!" Rodney waved his free hand, feeling remarkably loose and relaxed given the fact he was having a cute but real argument with his cute but not really naked gay boyfriend. "I remember you did something very inappropriate with some sunglasses and a fake gun!"

Dead or Alive by Grey Lupous where McKay is abducted by a deranged bounty hunter (somewhat like Juble Early) and it's up to John to rescue him.

You know back on Earth the large predators usually hunt at night. Did Vargas mention any of the wildlife in the area?" He watched as McKay paled a little. "What now?"
"Monkey-cat."
"Monkey-cat?" John echoed.
"Vargas killed this giant cat thing that looked like a monkey, with really sharp teeth and, yeah, monkey-cat."
"Dangerous?"
"Oh, let me clarify: giant, man-eating monkey-cat!"
"So you want me to find that walking stick still?"

More Than Just Pretty Faces by Tipper. At this point I'm sure we can all agree that anything by Tipper is going to be fantastic and this little story is no exception. What do the team do when they're trapped in an Ancient ruin on a jungle planet with the Wraith closing in?

Rodney jerked, his head going back, left hand going for the dart sticking out of the side of his neck. He didn't make a sound...just collapsed bonelessly....
And slipped silently off the bridge like a stone, falling into the white waters below.
"RODNEY!" Teyla shrieked, diving for him as he fell. But she forget her leg, and the ropes twisted, sending her onto her side hard...and backwards. She yelled in frustration, trying to get to her now trapped leg, to untangle it, but the whole bridge tipped with her, angling up almost vertical to the thirty foot drop into the white river.
"Teyla!" Sheppard shouted, tying to throw his weight against the tipping bridge, to stop it, but it was too late, and with a sickening sensation, he felt it turn over. His hands let go the P90, trying to grab at the ropes...
But he was too slow.
The last thing he heard before everything was drowned out by wind and water was the Wraith stunner that missed him as he fell.
Small favors.

Moka by Martha (slaaaaash). It's like at the end of Sixth Sense when you find out that Bruce Willis is actually a ghost (oh don't complain that I spoiled it for you, everyone who doesn't live under a rock on Mars knows by now). A creepy, gasp at the end as everything comes together kind of story.

John closed his eyes and his arms gave out beneath him. If there was a moral to the story it had to be never listen to a man with a monkey on his back.

Time in a Bottle by Astolat (slash warning).

"Oh, thank you!" Rodney said. "That's incredibly comforting. Our lives are in the feeble and incompetent hands of modern medicine, we can't do anything about it, and you want me to relax?"
"You know, if you get stressed out in here, it's probably not that good for you outside," John pointed out.
"What kind of an idiot do you think I am!" Rodney said. "There's no biofeedback connection between our bodies out there and our bodies in here. Which is a good thing, since otherwise we would be screaming blackened husks just like our actual bodies are outside!"
John could already tell this was going to be his favorite infirmary stay ever.

Choosing His Team by Tipper. So how did Sheppard choose his team?

"Ah, yes," Rodney nodded, then tilted his head. "Teyla is...the woman with the long, reddish hair, yes?"
"Yeah."
"She's very pretty."
Sheppard grinned, "Yeah. I noticed." He eyed Rodney, "I'm surprised you did."
"Are you kidding?" Rodney smiled broadly, "I may have been a little distracted with the whole, uh, Atlantis rising thing, Major, but I'm not blind. Believe me, the men of Atlantis all thank you."

And last but not the least Shock by frostfire 17 where Rodney proves once and for all that he and citrus are not friends.

Today's good stuff includes Refraction by LtLJ. Damn those quantum mirrors. A pain in the arse in any galaxy.

John bit his lip, pretending to think about it. Add this to the list of things I never expected to have to deal with in the Pegasus Galaxy. Two copies of the same person couldn't live for long in one universe; if she wanted to keep John, she would have to kill the duplicate. If that's enough to make him turn on her.... The other Sheppard just rolled his eyes and looked bored. Or not. John said, "Sorry, I already have a job. But thanks for the offer, it was really special."

Weir smiled archly. "Oh, this will be a treat. Hathor told me you were particularly...difficult. But this time I'll have the pleasure of breaking you myself."

"Funny, that's exactly what my last three commanding officers said," John told her.

A little change of pace today with a Numb3rs story Shifting Ground by Zubeneschamali. When a student is accused of eco-terrorism, Charlie works to prove his innocence, even though no one else believes him.

"Oh, ever since we were kids, he figured out he could use that sad little puppy-dog look of his to get him out of trouble. He gets on people's good sides so much that even when he does something wrong, he's automatically forgiven." Don shook his head. "Good thing I'm immune to it."

The corner of Terry's mouth turned up. "And you've never tried to get yourself out of trouble by looking cute."

"Me? No, I don't play games like that."

"Really? Because I remember you looking at me with that 'sad little puppy-dog look' right after you--" She looked sideways at David, who was watching the two of them like the umpire at a tennis match. "Never mind."

I've got you under my skin is top of the list today. With Rodney stuck on Alantis with a broken leg courtesy of a misplaced pen, it's up to Zelenka to save the day when he and the Major get stuck on a rainforest planet...with a giant man eating cat...and a deathly nanovirus...and then there's the flooding and the blindness. Nothing is ever easy for these guys.

"Ow, shit," moaned Sheppard, and then Zelenka's voice cut in. "You must understand, the major is a bit .. upset. The force field appears to leave a residual effect of ... pain."
"No, I'll break his fingers," continued Sheppard in a harsh tone. "Cross the B11 wire, my—"
"AND," said Zelenka rather loudly, drowning out the rest of Sheppard's threat. "It is getting dark."
"You're proposing to stay there the night?" said Weir.
"No," said Sheppard sarcastically, his voice a bit stronger. "I'll just wait till I get back on my feet and ram my head into the force field again. I'm sure it'll crack eventually."

Today's recommended fics include the bittersweet A Taste of Apples by Auburn.

Elizabeth walked over to the balcony overlooking the gate room. The pellucid flux of the open wormhole held her gaze until it parted around the red clad forms of Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney and Ford.
Who stopped under the P90s aimed at them by Bates' Marines.

"Wonderful," Rodney griped.

John smiled blindingly. "They're just really happy to see us."

Well worth a read is Auburn's Legion the Things I Would Give to Oblivion too. Because the Daedalus was just one ship and sometimes the odds are just too great even for the good guys.

Also on the menu this evening is Bioluminescence by Tipper where John doesn't believe in ghosts, Ford and Teyla do nothing much and Rodney gets to kick some serious Wraith butt. And Hidden Resources which inspired me to read A Tale of Two Cities. Can you believe I'd never read it?

Normally I don't even go near the baby/kid stories ( ie. in which author blesses the characters of my favourite shows with little bundles of terror by any means possible). It always leads to vomit inducing fuzzy wuzzy baby talk, arguments over nappies and 'oh my god the baby is sick' rushes to the hospital *yawn!* This one however I didn't realise there was a bub until after I'd started and by then I'd kind of become hooked. This story was in fact rather not-annoying with the biggest plus being the extreme lack of cutesyness. Though unfortunately the 'John and Rodney show' took until the end to get it on (yes it's one of those stories!). I mean what on earth and in pegasus were they waiting for? But check out A Beautiful Lifetime Event by Shalott anyway.

"Forget it! We are not naming our kid Tycho," John said. "I let you get away with this last time, look what you pulled. For all I know, Tycho was run over by a truck or something."

"He was a sixteenth-century astronomer!" Rodney said.

"Run over by a cow, then!" John said. "Not a chance."

"How about Galileo? I'm pretty sure he just died of old age."

I present to you The Once and Future Goon by Koschka.

"Yeah, one shitty planet," I whispered as he lay against me. The breath exhaled raggedly against my chest, hitched once then twice.

"John?" It was less than my whisper, but I heard it. And then I heard nothing. Felt nothing. The chest under my arm rose, fell.. and didn't rise again. I didn't look down. I didn't want to see. It's not like on TV, you know? The eyes don't shut. It doesn't look like they're sleeping. Sometimes they're white the color of fresh bone. Sometimes they're the mottled gray-blue of a storm sky. What they don't look like is the person you knew. Your comrade in arms, your family,your friend. The only thing left is an empty mockery of that person and I didn't want to see that.

Today we have the trilogy Triptych by liketheriver.
He held up a hand, slumping even further into the furniture in defeat. "John, I can't do this anymore. It's just getting worse and worse and worse. I won't last another day, if that. But I don't think I'll make it till you get back and I don't want to..." He took a breath, spoke with frustration. "Carson won't…he just won't. But I know I can depend on you."

I felt his hand enclose mine; it was warm and steady, everything I wasn't. "Its okay, John. I'll see you later. Okay?"

"Yeah. See you soon, McKay." And I squeezed the trigger.

This story was just gorgeous. The friendship was sweet and easy and heartbreaking and it just blew me away. Unfortunately everytime I read this chapter I just burst into tears. It got worse when I thought about it at work today and started to cry at my desk and had to make a quick getaway to the bathroom. It started to get a bit old the third time it happened. Bloody girly emotions! Bloody fantastic story!