June 13th, 2012 
12:02 am Useless Jo by londonsophie (PG-13)

Fandom: SPOOKS (MI-5)
Pairing: Jo Portman / Zafar Younis
Length: 3000 words
Author on LJ: not that I know of
Author Website: Fic Masterlist
Why this must be read:

Here’s the thing about the Adam-Zaf-Jo dynamic: Jo was wet behind the ears, Zaf was underwritten, and Adam was in desperate need of some serious psychiatric help, but all in all, they made a pretty fantastic team.

Despite the title, Jo is, of course, far from useless. This story follows her as she stumbles her way through her early days in MI-5. However, the heart of the story is really about the three colleagues and their friendship. Londonsophie is particularly adept at writing Jo and Zaf, who had a really strong onscreen chemistry that never made it into a romantic relationship. Add Adam and you have a great dynamic in all its periodically dysfunctional glory. They might not win spy of the year awards, but their loyalty and concern for each other is touching and real amidst the gloom and doom of MI-5.

Excerpt:

"Well," Zaf starts walking again. "There you go. You weren't stupid. You were right and we were wrong. I suppose you should be saying I told you so. Belatedly."

"I told you so," says Jo, and finds herself smiling.

"Feel better?" She can't see Zaf's face in the dark between the streetlamps but she can hear that he's laughing.

"Yes," says Jo, and she does.


Useless Jo by londonsophie
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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02:11 pm I Don't Love You But I Always Will by likexaxdove (K+)
Fandom: THE HUNGER GAMES
Pairing: current Peeta/Katniss, past Katniss/Gale
Length: ~1k
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] likexaxdove
Author Website: her ff.net page
Why this must be read:

Before this fic, I really did not understand Katniss/Gale people. I didn't have anything against Gale, I just didn't see why the two of them worked, at all. This story is not only a fantastic character piece for Gale, it does a lot of work with very few words to make someone who doubts the Katniss/Gale pairing see why it could have worked. Plus, the story is bitterweet and healing in all the right ways.

Excerpt: )

I Don't Love You But I Always Will
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10:50 pm I Will Dream I Was a Daughter by Delgaserasca (PG)

Fandom: SPOOKS (MI-5)
Pairing: Ruth Evershed / Harry Pearce
Length: One shot, 1200 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] delgaserasca
Author Website: Spooks tagged stories
Why this must be read:

Ruth is an easy character to love, but it’s not so easy to find stories that do justice to the complexity of her character, or her relationship with Harry.

“I Will Dream I Was a Daughter” does all that and more. The story is made up of Ruth’s introspections during 5x06 as she prepares to take a fall for Harry and flee the country. Delgaserasca fills the story with wonderful character moments, like Zaf's small kindnesses, but at the heart of it all is Ruth, talking herself into losing her whole life.


Excerpt:

She doesn’t remind herself of her self-doubt, of her conviction battling with Harry’s assurances to the contrary. She doesn’t think about how she second-guessed herself.

Mostly, though, she thinks of Harry, and of how he came to her as soon as she called, and how he came to believe in her, despite his initial caution. She thinks of Tom Quinn and a long walk into a deep ocean, and she thinks of Zoe, and Danny, and Sam, and Fiona, and Colin, and she thinks, oh god, it's me now, I'm next, what am I doing?


I Will Dream I Was a Daughter on author's livejournal community or on Yuletide archive

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