Take These Broken Wings by synecdochic (NC-17)

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm your driver for the month of August. Please fasten all seatbelts and be advised that this will be the month of current team recs; in other words, if you don't like Cam Mitchell, well, this is your chance to have your mind changed :)

Fandom: STARGATE SG1
Pairing: Cameron Mitchell/Jonathan Nielson (aka JD, aka cloned!Jack)
Length: Noveletta (series of chapters ten - twenty thousand words each)
Author on LJ: synecdochic
Author Website: Venus in Furs

Why this must be read:

I'm so mystified by the idea that this hasn't been recced yet that I went back through entries before the first chapter was even posted just to double check, but it doesn't appear that my eyes are playing tricks on me, to my joy and excitement.

This is, hands-down, my favourite SG1 fic ever. It features Mitchell who's 'kind of halfway between canon-Cam and "The Road Not Taken" Cam' and Jack's clone who definitely didn't go off back to high school like a good little teenager. Instead, he shows up on Cam's doorstep, with a proposition (not that kind of... okay, yeah, that kind as well).

This is an au that makes writing computer code interesting; that makes you ache for Cam and JD and for what they've both lost; that allows for both characters to be labelled cradle snatchers, depending on how you look at it. And it has the Mitchell extended family, who are one of the most realistic groups of ocs I can remember seeing recently.

The main story currently stands at eleven chapters, three interludes and a whole bunch of very hot porn paragraphs. There's another part still to come, but what's up right now can be read as a complete story.



They go through days where they argue about everything, from who used the last of the toothpaste (Cam) to who forgot they were out of orange juice (JD) to who broke the spine of the squirrel book (JD, and Cam's annoyed, because he's bitched at JD's habit of leaving books open spine-up to no end). Cam gets frustrated at himself for how slowly he's re-learning integrated systems engineering and JD gets annoyed at himself every time he re-invents the wheel. The weather changes, changes back -- early fall in Colorado is schizophrenic -- and plays merry hell with Cam's joints. They go through a lot of Pop-Tarts, a lot of coffee, and at least a few days where they communicate entirely by IM because they both know that if they say a word out loud, someone's gonna get shot.

But there are good days, too. The days when Cam actually forgets that he's crippled, because every time he's about to do something that would remind him, JD's right at his elbow taking care of it instead, always with that studied nonchalance intended to communicate that JD had been just about to get to it. The days when a problem they'd been working on just clicks, and one or both of them winds up awake all night working out subroutines and banging out code. The days when Momma calls, and can hear Cam feeling happy again, feeling useful again. The days when Cam forgets how strange this would look to anyone who wasn't them.



Take These Broken Wings

Comments

[bionic.livejournal.com]

I've got a question - I've always wanted to read Stargate fic, but I know nothing about the show and have only the original movie and Continuum to go by, which I've only recently watched. Don't have the option to go watch all bajillion seasons of SG1, either! So my question is, if I only watch 'Fragile Balance' and 'The Road Not Taken', along with what I know from the original movie and about the characters shown in Continuum, will I be able to follow this story and truly appreciate it, you think? I read the first paragraph and it's so good, and I loved the Cam Mitchell character in Continuum.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I think so. I mean, I've never seen the episode with cloned Jack (I've actually never seen a pre-season 9 episod at all) and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. There's some stuff later on involving Ba'al, who turns up a lot in SG1 (and in Continuum, I think?) but it's pretty well explained. I'd definitely recommend giving it a go - she writes a great Cam Mitchell.

[fanmouse.livejournal.com]

I've only seen the original movie, read a few fics, watched a few clips/videos on youtube, and read some episode summaries in the Stargate Wiki (http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Stargate_Wiki), and I was completely captivated by this story/series. I think the author writes enough detail of circumstance and character development that you could almost read it without ever having seen any of the show (well, maybe with a couple more paragraphs explaining the Stargate program in general & the Gou'ald).

Also, the author added a couple of significant stories (like a whole additional novel) to the series in late August. I highly recommend all of it.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

This is an amazing rec, and I love clone!Jack stories. Thanks for the heads up. Now I have something to read over the weekend. :)

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

It's such a great story - I've actually been known to bounce in my seat when a new chapter shows up on my flist. Which was awkward to explain at work!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I just wrapped up what was available today. Literally had to drag myself away from the computer to take care of my errands. Her post about the next two chapters-in-progress being a wee bit angsty has me nervous. I want reunion hugs and kisses already, dammit! *whimper*

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I want reunion hugs and kisses already, dammit!

And me! I'm the kind of person who reads the end to check that no-one dies and I'm sure this will be one of the stories where I do that... and because I want to read the reunion scene:)

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

Whoa! I don't know how I missed this--has it been that long since my last SG-1 reading binge?--but thanks for pointing it out.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy it!

[anonymoot.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I'm going to use this rec as an excuse to go read the entire thing all over again *g*

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Like me: reccing it is totally an excuse to re-read the whole thing from start to finish. Um, yeah...

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Please use text only (no lj-name tags) in your header info. Thanks.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Sorry, force of habit, I'll change it.

[fanmouse.livejournal.com]

I didn't see this rec until the end of August, and so had the privilege of reading all of Broken Wings AND A Howling in the Factory Yard at one go. (yes, that ate 3 days) And as I was passing on the rec to someone else, it occurred to me that I should thank you for making the recommendation in the first place. It's an amazing series and I keep returning to it and it's themes.