Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex, Clark/Chloe (implied)
Author on LJ: rose_emily
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

Don't be deceived by the title - this isn't an mpreg story. Instead, it's a smart, funny, wonderfully compassionate look at making babies the SV way. Without giving too much away, in an AU future, advances in reproductive technology make it possible to produce children using genetic material from two partners of the same sex. Chloe finds herself volunteering to help Clark and Lex out and signs up for what should be the scoop of a lifetime.

The fragile dynamic between the three is brilliantly realised, as they're forced to confront just exactly what makes a parent. The ethical issues surrounding reproductive technology are addressed in some depth but are so deftly and cleverly incorporated into the narrative that it never feels intrusive. This is a rich, rewarding read. I find myself coming back to this story over and over and it remains a favourite.

I'm Carrying My Gay Alien Lover's Child

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: eliade
Author Website: http://www.drizzle.com/~eliade/
Why this must be read:

Jim Ellison isn’t a man prone to lengthy conversations about feelings, but I think many of us agree that he has the capacity, at least, to be deeply introspective. Anna taps into the too-often unexplored facet of his personality in this story.

In “Long Time Looking,” Jim and Blair spend some peaceful time together on what I like to call an ‘it’s not a date.’ In his own quiet way, Jim spends the time reflecting on his life, his job, his place in the world, and how Blair relates to all of them.

They shuffled into seats near enough to the rear wall that Jim's ears wouldn't bleed, and Jim settled almost immediately, stretching out, working his long legs into a soft pretzel of approximate comfort, while next to him Blair detached from his backpack, turned, bounced on the seat, wriggled, and in general made a lot of himself. He quieted down just in time to avoid a rude comment from Jim, and slouched his own more compact frame down into the seat. The previews started and Blair's hand extended into Jim's lap for popcorn. Jim felt self-conscious again, as he did on such occasions, with the disorienting thrill of proximity. When had they stopped buying their own popcorn? Within the last year, maybe. Even a detective couldn't trace every change in the routine of everyday life. The first time they'd shared a single bottle of beer. The first time their dirty laundry had mingled in the wash. With popcorn he'd once enforced the one-man, one-bag rule with a strict disregard for economy, a masculine boundary line that Blair had never argued. Yet somehow the rule had dropped from use, like so many others he'd once thought inviolable.

In the dark, with previews flashing across the screen and Blair's hand reaching for popcorn, Jim allowed himself to feel almost what he wanted to feel. Almost was the nature of his relationship with Blair. He wanted something like this, but better. Not much better, because this was damn good, but more honest. This was so close, though, in its imperfect way; they were close, Blair's arm moving across his lap, Jim tipping the bag, neither of them intent on the other but with gaze to screen, the motion of Blair's fingers in the popcorn carrying in tiny shifts through the bag, the clumsy rhythms of foraging transmitted to Jim's thigh, the smell of butter and Blair's nearness, nearness like a date. He could have put his arm around Blair's shoulders, but would never dare.

The writing is slow, gentle, and absorbing, as is all of Anna’s work. You feel wrapped up, safe, when you’re in this world she’s made for Jim and Blair. It’s the kind of story that leaves you with a warm and pleasant feeling after reading.

It’s a good read for a lazy Sunday afternoon, a nice trip through the tangled hallways of Jim’s mind.

Go, read. You won’t regret it.
A Long Time Looking

Fandom: STARGATE SG-1
Pairing: Daniel/Janet, Sam/Janet, Sam/Graham Simmons, Daniel/Graham Simmons, and maybe a little Sam/Daniel
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Buttercup's Story Page

Why this must be read: Stargate the show does humor very well, but well done humor is a little more rare in the fandom. Spin the Stargate is a wonderful and funny story that you could actually see within the context of Window of Opportunity. The behavior which might otherwise be out of character works in the setting and Buttercup draws the characters in character in other ways.

"It could be an experiment," he said, pulling her into her lab.

"An experiment? To test what hypothesis?" Sam leaned against her workbench, arms folded across her chest as she waited expectantly for his answer.

Daniel thought for a moment. "Um, the hypothesis that we're in a time loop?" he said after a moment.

Snorting, Sam shook her head. "That's not an experiment!"

"It is too an experiment!" Daniel protested. "It meets the criteria of hypothesis testing."

"Oh yeah?" Sam asked sarcastically. "What's the null hypothesis?"

"That we aren't in a time loop, of course." Daniel licked his lips and decided to just go with it and hope for the best. "It's like this. The null hypothesis is that we aren't in a time loop, and the alternate hypothesis is that we are. The independent variable is unusual behavior. Kissing, in this instance, and the dependent variable is whether or not we remember it. If we do, retain the null, no time loop." He spread his arms out wide as he said the last bit and looked at Sam expectantly.

Spin the Stargate

Fandom: Starsky and Hutch

Pairing: Starsky/Hutch

Fic Link: http://www.squidge.org/~flamingo/starskyhutchslash/ConstanceCollins/ariesvirgo.htm

Why this must be read: This story was originally in Adult Situations 4. You know how you can read about traits that exist under your birth sign? Well, this takes the traits of Starsky (Aries) and Hutch (Virgo) and sees how closely they match. The weaving of astrology and personality makes this an enjoyable read. Starsky's cooking mannerisms remind me of my own. Their signs match, their personalities mesh, and they make a great team.

Fandom: THE WEST WING
Pairing: Josh, Donna
Author on LJ: mandysbitch
Author Website: mandy's bitch, but it's currently down.
Why this must be read:

Donna deserves more and cgb gives it to her with this story. Donna dates and wonders why her life is being consumed by work, and by Josh and by things she isn't sure she wants and is pretty sure she'll never have.

Both the Donna and the Josh voices are right in this (ignore the switch in POV, the story works, even if the mechanics are a little rough), and the emotional weight of Donna's realization makes it a story that lingers in the mind long after you’ve read it.

A quote:

She stops in the doorway. She has a long frame that reminds him of a cubist nude, all angles and points. Donna descending a staircase.

Josh thinks that he likes his women to look a little less severe, but it doesn't stop him thinking that he likes looking at her.

Transcendance by cgb

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Benton Fraser
Author's Website: http://www.fangirlz.net/clfinn/index.html
Author on LJ: trixiesfic

Why this must be read:

I'm taking a break from the Speranza Days (but they're not over yet!) to keep things fresh. So here's a don't-miss dS fic with a very different tone - a long-term RayK/Fraser relationship fic, by which I mean a story that takes place a decade or more post-Call of the Wild, when the guys have been together for long enough to be an "old married couple." I have two favorites in this genre; The Easiest Choice is one of them.*

The story is told from Fraser's first person POV - one of the best, most appealing Fraser voices I've read. Ray and Fraser have spent the past eleven years in Chicago, during which Ray replaced Welsh as Lieutenant for the 2-7 and Fraser became the Seargent in charge of the consulate. Now they are a few months away from a major life transition - Ray is preparing to take early retirement so they can move to Canada.

The entire story takes place during the course of a single evening, a standard day-in-the-life for the two of them: Fraser picks up Ray from the station and waits while Ray is interrogating a suspect, they drive home and make dinner, Fraser goes running and then cleans his leather accoutrements, Ray reads, they go to bed together. It's a snapshot of their daily life together. Not much really "happens" - but Fraser, anticipating the forthcoming change in their lives, is in a particularly contemplative mood, and throughout the evening he reflects extensively on their years in Chicago and his feelings about the change.

These reflections are seamlessly and masterfully interwoven with the day-to-day details of their evening, and together these comprise the real story. Fraser's memories of the major events in their lives over their time in Chicago and how they dealt with them together are wonderfully evocative, sometimes funny, sometimes touching - the passage about Dief is particularly lovely, perhaps the most moving such passage I've ever read in any dS fic. But more important, these memories - as well as Fraser's recounting of the normal events of their evening - paint a remarkably complete and nuanced portrait of their relationship and illustrate how it has anchored them through the years. And the relationship thus revealed is such an endearingly beautiful, tender, solid one - it's just the kind of future I want to imagine for my favorite pairing.

The writing is absolutely gorgeous; beautifully cadenced, with a quiet, nostalgic, almost wistful tone. The characterization is wonderful - Ray and Fraser are older, changed, but still unmistakably the characters we know and love. It's almost achingly sweet and tender, and yet manages to be not at all sappy, which is quite an achievement. And even better, it has a bit of heat - a wonderful sex scene that's totally consistent with the feel of the fic.

One reviewer has described The Easiest Choice as "the fic equivalent of hot chocolate and a smooshy quilt on a cold, rainy night," and I couldn't have said it better myself. It's one of the most lovely and moving fics I know.

The Easiest Choice

*For those who are interested, my other favorite is Likewise by AuKestrel, but I'll leave that to some future reviewer to describe and rec!